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How Working on Special Projects Can Significantly Boost Employee Engagement

Updated: Apr 16, 2019

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Everything You've Been Wondering: About Special Projects

I had no idea that Special Projects Leadership was a thing until I had been doing it for half a decade: It was a normal-as-anything day in late summer, circa 2018 when a friend and colleague bridged an introduction over email. “Copied here,” the email read, “Is Eric Michael, a good friend, and US-based Special Projects Lead that I know can bring your ideas to life… He’s the best!” (That last excerpt because: butterflies.)

My first thought was, “Is this what we’re doing now? Handing out professional titles?” My second thought was, “Did I do this? Have I put ‘special projects’ somewhere in my messaging ?” (No.) And then, I’ll admit, “That’s exactly what I am.” (And then I immediately added the title to my LinkedIn , business cards, and everything else.)

Doing this felt like taking a long (exaggerated) look over my shoulder to learn a whole corner of my creative practice had been completely concealed. I had done so much in presenting the traditional creative services I carry out for clients—print, graphic, and web design—that I had left all of my Special Projects in the dark. Plus, I thought, if I didn’t know I was a Special Projects Lead, surely there had to be others. Maybe?

There weren’t. Turns out most of my network, including past and prospective clients, considered me a reliable (aka “solid”) Special Projects lead. Mostly because of my work with Airthings, The Home Depot, Visit Philadelphia, and countless other collaborators (ranging across fashion, psychedelic medicine, wellness, tech, and travel and tourism) had built me a pretty solid reputation in the space. Groovy.

My hope for this article is to hold some space and shed some light, through some frequently asked questions (aka supplemental reading material), as I work to assemble a dedicated Special Projects page on my site. There you’ll be able to dive deeper into my practice and explore some of the previous work.

Let’s get started but, before we do, if you’re interested in being alerted when the Special Projects page goes live, drop your email below.

What is a Special Projects Lead?

A Special Projects Lead, by my definition, is an individual that works to assume the role and execute duties required of leading projects or assignments towards a productive goal.

What do you consider a ‘Special Project’ to be?

Special Projects run the gamut, for me. I consider anything appealing, attractive, or attainable to be a Special Project. Sometimes a Special Project can be purely conceptual, assisting an organization or brand with a new product or identity. Whereas, other times, a Special Project can be more complex and multi-disciplinary, like designing and presenting unique brand activations and integrated marketing initiatives.

I even look at and approach some digital property (website) design and development assignments as Special Projects, like those requiring content creation or intro-to-market support. It’s safe to say that you (or any client) would want any partnership requiring the activation of 2+ services would be tackled and treated as something special.

How long is the term of a Special Project?

This too is a sliding scale. Historically speaking, Special Project terms have spanned between three and six months—depending on the need and style of collaboration.

How do you select which Special Projects to attach yourself to?

At the end of the day, aside from relational and (corporate) cultural compatibility, I make the decision to propose or accept Special Projects on a case-by-case basis; on the appeal and (probable) success rate of the identified desire or need.

Eric Michael

Eric Michael is a multi-passionate, multidisciplinary creative collaborator, special projects lead, and career and life coach with a passion for high-stakes branding, business, and reputation management initatives.

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Use Stretch Assignments to Get a Raise, a Promotion and Anything Else You Want at Work

Want to uncover a bigger, bolder vision for your career than you can imagine today? Try taking on a stretch assignment — a project that can’t be completed using your current expertise.

A stretch opportunity could be a temporary assignment or project that you oversee for a few weeks or a few months. Or it could be taking on a new, permanent role that increases your scope.

Examples of stretch assignments include:

• Delivering a presentation to a VIP client
• Structuring and communicating a rollout for a key change
• Leading the implementation of new tools to replace manual processes
• Convening or serving on a task force created to solve a difficult problem
• Relaunching an internal initiative that previously failed
• Performing data analysis to find business efficiencies
• Turning around a failing product or launching a new product

When you take on such an assignment, you’ll be compelled to develop new technical, business or leadership skills. As you engage in the process, you’ll build relationships with new stakeholders, and increase your visibility and your chances of earning a promotion or raise.

Why Stretch Opportunities Can Be Career-making

“There’s now towering evidence to confirm the career-transforming power of stretch roles and stretch assignments,” says Jo Miller, CEO of Be Leaderly , a firm dedicated to helping organizations develop a pipeline of qualified and engaged emerging women leaders.

According to McKinsey & Company, people who get advice from managers about how to advance — and who then land stretch assignments — are more likely to to receive raises . Similar research from Korn Ferry names stretch or rotational assignments as the most valuable experiences for career development , ahead of action learning, mentoring, relationships, 360-degree assessments, exposure to more senior leaders and formal classroom training.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that stretch assignments provide so many benefits to individuals’ careers, men and women are not on a level playing field when it comes to those opportunities.

Women More Likely to Feel Unsure About Whether They’re Ready

Recently, Be Leaderly conducted a study on workers’ attitudes and experiences around stretch assignments . They found that both men and women have similar ambitions: both genders are equally interested in being promoted into director or vice president positions and ultimately advancing into C-suite roles.

Yet, most women don’t feel their employers make it easy to gauge if they are ready for a promotion, while most men think their employers help them to know whether they are prepared to advance.

Additionally, when women assess how ready they are for a new job, they are less likely than men to overestimate or “round up” their skills, and more likely to underestimate or “round down” what they know or can do.

What might account for these differences between male and female professionals?

Selena Rezvani — VP of Research at Be Leaderly and co-author of this report — suggests that “women may be more sensitive than men to social cues signaling readiness to advance. [So] when stretch opportunities are unclear, unadvertised and unevenly offered, it makes women hesitate even more to pursue them.”

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Most women don’t feel their employers make it easy to gauge if they are ready for a promotion, while most men think their employers help them to know whether they are prepared to advance.” quote=”Most women don’t feel their employers make it easy to gauge if they are ready for a promotion, while most men think their employers help them to know whether they are prepared to advance.”]

How Men Versus Women Evaluate Stretch Opportunities

For both genders, the top criteria for deciding whether to take a stretch assignment are having the influence to create a positive outcome, and getting an assignment that aligns with their career goals. Yet, men are 3.5 times more likely than women to cite pay as an important factor in evaluating the appeal of a new assignment, job or level!

9 Ways to Make the Most Out of Stretch Opportunities

How can you make the most of stretch opportunities at your organization, knowing that your organization might not advertise these assignments or provide clear clues as to how ready you are? Below are some key tips from some experts in the leadership development space, including the authors of Be Leaderly’s report on stretch assignments and others.

1. Chart Your course

If you understand your passions, innate strengths and the direction you want to take your career, it will be much easier to identify the stretches that make sense for you. What types of work do you naturally feel passionate about or gravitate toward? Look beyond your immediate role and identify those unmet needs in your organization that you have an interest in solving. Once you have ideas, find evidence to support why they would be helpful. Discuss your proposal with management and share why you’re excited about the part you could play.

2. Gather Your Own Data to Assess Your Readiness

Be proactive in assessing your own readiness to advance. Seek out clear, frequent feedback on your work — both formal and informal — that is tied to business outcomes. For example, send a survey to those who work with you and ask them for their perspective for your strengths and how you show up at work. Include questions to help you understand how others see you, such as “What three to five words would you use to describe me?,” “What’s a success or a big win I had in the last six months?” and “What one adjustment would you encourage me to make?.”

And here’s another important piece of advice from Selena: “If you’re a woman, aim to round up rather than round down your qualifications when deciding if you’ve got enough to go after a certain role or assignment.”

3. Trust in What You Already Know and Bring It Forth

You may have a hard time “rounding up” your qualifications because you feel that you haven’t learned enough or don’t know enough to tackle a new challenge. Tara Mohr, author of Playing Big and career coach to emerging women leaders, identified this as an issue for many of her female coaching clients. She believes that the reason women and men feel this way is because our experience in schools have taught us to value external knowledge over our own lived experiences and judgment.

Tara, in her book, points that in many schools, the dominant activity is absorbing information from the outside — whether from a book, a teacher’s lecture or the internet — and then internalizing it.

In school, most assignments follow this pattern: 1) do the readings/research, 2) absorb the information, 3) apply it through writing a paper/report/making a presentation. The message is that the value we have to contribute on a topic comes from information absorbed from an external source — from teachers, homework reading and research.

When we carry this sort of conditioning into our professional lives, we are led to believe that we need another qualification, degree or certificate before we can tackle a stretch assignment. But to reach our full potential, we must start to value who we are as much as what we know.

“Playing big often requires assessing what we already know, trusting its value and bringing it forth. This is particularly true as women advance to senior levels in their careers, where they need to be the source of ideas and of thought leadership,” says Tara.

4. Identify your champions and talk to them about your career goals

In addition to your manager, there are others in your organization who could become champions for you and refer you opportunities you may not be aware of. This group includes your manager’s manager, more senior colleagues from groups/teams you work with and staff from your HR team. Build relationships with these people, make sure they know your work and what you aspire to do. When they have this knowledge, they’re likely to have you in mind when an opportunity opens up.

5. Make informed decisions and ask for what you need to be successful

Don’t agree to do the extra work without the extra pay. Remember, men are 3.5 times as likely than women to cite pay as an important factor in evaluating the appeal of a new assignment, job or level.

Gather the details on what the new opportunity entails, including compensation, recognition and career options that a stretch might lead to. “Don’t be afraid to ask, ‘If I do an excellent job on this project, what can I expect as a result?” says Jo and Selena in their report.

Also, make sure you negotiate for what you need — resources, authority and support — to be successful in the role.

6. Take a Project No One Wants

Some projects are shiny, cool and trendy (e.g. working with a hip new client). But what about the riskier assignments no one else wants? When you raise your hand for the assignment that makes others nervous or uncomfortable, it demonstrates your confidence in your abilities and commitment to your organization. These projects can give you the opportunity to prove yourself as a problem-solver, change agent or emerging leader.

7. Focus on Learning as Much as the Outcome

Don’t be quick to judge the gaps in your knowledge when you take on a new role or project. Embrace your newcomer status and find joy in your learning process. Think of yourself as a student of the problem you’re solving.

8. Translate the experience and spotlight what you accomplish

Did your new assignment help you develop new technical skills? Did you learn a better way of working with a group? Document your learnings so others know what you have gained from an assignment. Identify at least three actions you can take in your current role based on what you learned.

9. Market what you accomplish

Even if you knocked the project out of the park, it won’t mean much if no one knows what you’ve accomplished. “In your pre-deal negotiation, request that your stretch assignment be marketed internally. For example, ask that it serve as a best practice story and be shared on appropriate company channels, whether it’s via an internal newsletter, social network, or even in a brown-bag information session,” suggests Jo and Selena.

Tell Us What You Think

Have you taken on a stretch assignment recently? We want to hear from you. Share your results in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter .

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If You’re Not Seizing Stretch Assignments at Work, You’re Doing It Wrong

These bonus opportunities have the power to boost your leadership cred and wholly transform your career. Here’s how to successfully take advantage of them without burning out.

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There’s mounting evidence to confirm the career-transforming power of stretch opportunities—those projects outside your traditional line of work that allow you to put your potential to the test, learn, and prove your capabilities.

Though stretch assignments might seem like a way for you to do more work without any recognition, when sought out and seized correctly a stretch assignment could be what’s standing between you, a promotion and, ultimately, the career development and recognition you deserve.

A Stretch Assignment Pays Off

Philly-based legal executive Amanda Bruno would be the first to admit that she wasn’t always purposeful about taking career risks. Now a chief business development officer with one of the largest U.S. law firms, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP , Bruno says a career-defining defining moment arose when she was asked by the firm chair to launch a firmwide, first-of-its kind initiative.

The assignment involved developing and launching a client service program that would be rolled out to the firm’s advisory board just four months later, with plans to take it to all personnel.

“I had never done anything of this scope – let alone within this timeframe and with no dedicated team. With so much on the line, I knew this was an amazing opportunity. And I was up for the challenge,” said Bruno.

In that moment, though she was feeling somewhat nervous, Bruno had the self-awareness to realize, “I think I have good instincts. If I put in the work and keep pushing it along, I’ll be able to create the program, and it will probably be well received.”

Bruno accepted the assignment, and the experiences and exposure that came with it changed everything. “Our program received a 96 percent positive feedback rating from personnel and has been a finalist for multiple external awards.”

Bruno’s career felt the impact too. She says she gained a reputation as a “change agent.” She was named director of client service, then subsequently chief business development officer.

Stretch assignments like Bruno’s are the ultimate “two-fer” for employers and employees. Companies like stretch assignments because they’re inexpensive and low-risk proving grounds for developing talent. Employees like stretch assignments because of their capacity to help a person quickly “upskill.” They can also help an individual rebrand how they’re known—broadening one’s visibility and delivering access to new people, products or divisions.

How to Successfully Execute a “Stretch”

Executive search firm Egon Zehnder ’s survey of 823 international executives found that 71 percent of senior leaders identified stretch assignments as the biggest career enabler in unleashing their potential. Another report by Korn Ferry named rotational or stretch assignments as the single most valuable developmental experience – beating out mentoring, classroom training, 360° assessments and even exposure to senior leaders.

Given that women are less likely to receive these opportunities than men , we at Be Leaderly launched a study of 1,500 professionals to uncover the following: Do men and women differ in their perceptions of the enablers and roadblocks that come with taking on a “stretch”? And what factors motivate someone to say “Yes” to a stretch?

The professionals we surveyed concluded that executing a stretch assignment well is anything but simple or easy, and gave us detailed insights into the criteria they consider before accepting one. If owning a high-profile initiative like Bruno’s excites you, seize your own assignment and use these four strategies to execute it like a rock star.

• Define Your Direction : What if you’re not aware of any exciting, ready-to-launch stretch assignments? Reflect on your career goals, and scan your organization’s landscape for gaps, problems, and business opportunities that would be a good match for you. Once you have ideas, back them with evidence, proposing them to management with the same attention and care you’d give a VIP project. If you’re a woman, try not to “round down,” or understate your qualifications when deciding if you’re ready for an assignment, but rather “round up.”
• Negotiate for Your Success : Before taking on a new stretch, ask to fully understand the career benefits and options that might open up – even the financial incentives. Be unafraid to ask, “If I do an excellent job on this project, what can I expect as a result?” While you’re at it, negotiate the authority, resources and support you need to be successful. The last type of project you want to accept is one that is politically, positionally or otherwise doomed.
• Over-Deliver : If you’re selected for a special assignment, it means someone vouched for you and put their reputation on the line to advocate for you. This person, along with your organization, is invested in your success and will be watching to see how you perform. Rather than aiming to merely satisfy a project goal or stakeholder, find a way to deliver something that’s truly memorable and extraordinary.
• Translate the Experience and Promote Your Success : One complaint we hear from bosses is that it’s not always easy to see how a worker’s stretch assignment translates back to their job. Avoid this perception by developing a list of tangible, transferable skills you learned; articulate to your manager three actions you’ll take based on what you learned while “on assignment.” Spotlight your learning by ‘storytelling your stretch assignment,’ so it has a beginning, middle and end that illustrates the initial problem, some key context, and your solution.

Selena is a VP at Be Leaderly , where she teaches women at all levels to self-advocate and negotiate like a boss. She also consults to employers on how to make work truly “work” for women – by architecting workplace assessments and culture change. She’s the author of Pushback: How Smart Women Ask—and Stand Up—for What They Want and is based in Philadelphia. Follow her @SelenaRezvani.

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Your employee's 'additional duties' may be illegal under the Equal Pay Act

Larry and Linda are fictional senior accountants. Both earned master’s degrees in finance, have five years apiece on staff, receive the same base pay and perform exceptional work. But Larry also trains junior accountants, and receives $20 a month more than Linda in his paycheck. Seems fair, right? Not so fast. It’s not if Linda wasn’t given the same training opportunity.

Larry’s “additional duties” could be violating the Equal Pay Act. Taking on extra work assignments might look good on his employment record, but could be considered discriminatory against Linda.

The law requires employers to pay men and women equal pay for equal work unless employers can demonstrate that the pay disparity between employees of different genders is fair and nondiscriminatory. An exception is when an employee is paid for “additional duties” that lower paid workers don’t perform.

The conflict for HR

To justify the pay disparity between Larry and Linda’s pay under the EPA, HR would have to establish that their jobs are equal and that the “additional duty” actually exists. In other words, that Larry is actually performing duties that Linda did not.

The tricky part comes down to a question of opportunity. HR can’t defend Larry’s additional pay for training junior accountants under the EPA in this example because Linda wasn’t assigned to do training, even though she’s as qualified as Larry to do so. In essence, Linda wasn't offered the chance to train junior accountants and earn extra money.

There are other specific instances in which additional duties create potential discrimination conflicts. Pay differentials related to additional duties can cause pay disparity problems if:

• The higher paid worker isn’t actually performing “additional duties.” Managers have been known to give subordinates they like extra pay for work they haven’t performed.
• The lower paid worker also performs the same additional duties as the higher paid worker. If the employees share the work, they should receive identical pay.
• The “additional duties” don’t exist. Few managers make up tasks to raise a worker’s pay. But those who do sometimes figure that since HR seldom comes around or makes inquiries about pay or duties, why not help a worker.
• The extra duties lack significance. Their description on paper might seem impressive, but on closer inspection, the actual tasks performed don’t justify a pay increase. If for example, Larry’s “training” was merely handing out materials to trainees, the task wouldn’t justify a pay differential.
• Third parties who also are performing the same additional duties are paid less . If an employer hires temporary workers to do some of the tasks Larry is being paid extra to do, a claim could be made that Larry is getting a pay differential because he’s a man and not because the additional duties add value to the company.

Weighing pay differentials

Before signing off on pay differentials, HR should ask managers or supervisors:

• What are the specific extra duties?
• Why do the extra duties merit a pay differential?
• Will anybody else be performing these duties?

If managers give vague responses or the additional duties aren’t performed as expected, HR will need to intervene and decide what changes might be necessary. Overlooking the problem could make employers liable under the EPA.

Equal pay and wage transparency are likely to continue to challenge HR. On the federal level, tracking requirements under the EPA and other laws created headaches. Business groups have asked the Trump Administration to roll back new EEO-1 report requirements related to tracking pay. The outcome of those appeals isn't known yet, but employers must still comply with state requirements and other anti-discrimination regulations. More broadly, however, pay disparity issues — real or perceived — have serious implications for employee engagement and workplace culture.

Tracking pay can be data-intensive and complicated, but confronting pay discrimination should be a best practice.  HR should review pay practices, skills, job descriptions, wages, bonuses and other monetary-related information to ensure employee pay is not predicated on discriminatory factors.

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15 questions to ask before accepting a stretch assignment.

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Stretch assignments are like the Instant Pot of career development. An intensely challenging, ambitious, go-big-or-go-home work project, they are a catalyst for rapid development of business acumen, technical expertise and leadership skills. They’re also great for building relat ionships with influential stakeholders, and exposing your skills, value and work ethic to individuals outside of your core team. Sure, the pressure will be high, but it will get your career cooking. No other form of career development comes close .

If, like many of the women I speak to, your potential outpaces how others perceive you, a carefully chosen stretch assignment can close that gap. It’s a way to take your budding strengths and aspirations and fortify them with measurable successes that will make your organization sit up and pay attention.

To better understand what motivates people to accept or reject such an opportunity, Selena Rezvani and I surveyed 1,549 U.S.-based professionals, inquiring about their experiences with sizing up stretch assignments and higher-level roles. Here's what our findings revealed.

What Makes A Stretch Assignment Appealing?

Interestingly, women and men have similar criteria for saying “yes” to a stretch assignment. Top considerations were having enough personal influence and organizational support to drive the project to successful completion.

“My readiness for the next assignment depends on making sure I have a blank check to make tough decisions,” said one female leader.  One early-career woman with a financial software company said having adequate support is a deciding factor. “Otherwise, I won't take the assignment since it may not come with the resources I would need to be successful,” she wrote. 

Another highly-ranked criteria was whether an assignment aligned with career goals. A woman working at the director level in a hospital asks: “Will it feel like play, feed my purpose, and allow me to grow in a meaningful way?”

What Makes A Stretch Assignment A Non-Starter?

Given previous research showing that more than half of U.S. employees feel overworked or overwhelmed at least some of the time , it came as no surprise to discover that ‘threat of overwork’ ranks highly as a red flag. “It boils down whether I am able to balance my personal life with the next assignment,” one entry-level man at an internet company told us. “If it jeopardizes my personal time, then it's not worth it.” (There’s a reason one executive I interviewed jokingly referred to stretch assignments as “night jobs.”) The next most cited misgiving was lack of guidance from insiders or mentors.

15 Questions To Ask Before Saying Yes To A Stretch Assignment

We asked respondents how they decide if a potential stretch is a good fit. Here are some key themes that emerged, along with specific questions they ask.

Management Support

• Are there clear expectations?
• Is there support from senior leaders?
• Will I have the resources and authority to succeed?

Work-Life Balance

• How does this impact my work-life balance?
• Will the time commitment mesh with my family responsibilities?
• Is it worth the amount of time it will take to be successful?

New Challenges

• How challenging is the assignment and what will I learn?
• Is it personally challenging or “more of the same”?
• Will it require me to think on a deeper level or use my skill set in new ways?

Purpose and Passion

• Does it align with my personal mission?
• Does it truly spark my passion?
• How will it make a difference in the world?

Future Prospects

• Does it align with my career aspirations?
• Is it going to take me where I ultimately want to go or is the detour worth it?
• How might the role open doors to other opportunities?

Stretch assignments are proven career shortcuts—a way to rapidly reshape how others view you, so that their perceptions can more closely match your potential and aspirations. By asking the right questions, you can choose your next one well.

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You’re Between Assignments at Work. What Do You Do?

It’s a great time to get organized and think big picture.

Being in a lull period at work can be a great opportunity to shift gears, recalibrate, get organized, and even stretch yourself. To make the most of a slow period, keep a running list of ways that you could challenge yourself. The list might include taking up new hobbies, enrolling in a short-duration class, or deliberately placing yourself in an uncomfortable situation, such as a public speaking role, for the purpose of growth. What tasks have you been putting off? A slow period at work is an excellent time to cross them off your list. Don’t waste a good slowdown. It can be a great time to step back from work to think big picture, give back to your community, ramp up your fitness routine, or simply recharge your batteries for the next busy period.

A lull between assignments or a dip in your weekly hours can be a chance to recalibrate . Many senior leaders jump at the chance to re-organize their commitments, ponder longer-term initiatives, or relax. But not everyone sees this opportunity; for some, a lull can be debilitating. If you’re a senior manager who draws energy from always being challenged and keeping busy, a lull can make you feel stuck. Here are four steps to help you experience forward motion again.

• AS Anne Sugar is an executive coach and speaker who works with senior leaders in technology, marketing, and pharmaceutical companies. She is an executive coach for the Harvard Business School Executive Program and has guest lectured at MIT. You can reach her at annesugar.com .

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4 Questions Smart People Always Ask Their Boss About New Assignments

You just left your meeting with your boss, and your head is spinning. She assigned you to a new project and you feel super unclear about several aspects of it.

I’ve been here before—a lot. It’s not very fun. And while it’s ideal for supervisors to present their employees with all the necessary details from the start, it doesn’t always happen.

So because I hate feeling destined for failure, I’ve outlined four questions I always when I’m given a task with little to no instruction. Not only is it a great way to show initiative, but it makes the whole project a lot less painful.

1. When Is it Due?

There’s a very big difference between something due by the end of today and a deadline of “next month” or “by next year at this time.”

When I started my current gig, my director told me all the goals she had for our team and my position. I walked the five yards back to my office, looked at my list, and immediately put the pressure on myself to finish everything right now, ASAP, by the end of the day, or else!

When I finally expressed how overwhelmed I was to her, she clarified that, no, she didn’t expect me to be a miracle worker. Because while some things, like the “Safe Spring Break” event, needed to be completed by a certain date (like, um, before spring break), others had much more lenient timelines—or none at all.

You don’t want to assume it has to be done right this very moment and drop everything else to tackle it, nor do you want to operate under the assumption that it’s not urgent (because if it is—and you don’t finish it on time—well, that’s a problem. And awkward).

2. Is There Anyone Else I Should Talk to About This?

There very well could be people who’ve worked on this exact assignment before. You’ll want to know if there’s a certain place you should pick up, if there are methods they tried that didn’t work, or if they have any other helpful tips for you.

Furthermore, there may be individuals who you should be collaborating and splitting the workload with. You don’t need to take on every single assignment completely solo. (Because you don’t need to be a miracle worker, either!)

Lastly, it’ll help ensure you gain any approval needed. For example, if I’m told to provide a statement to the university paper about something in our office, I need to run it by the communications director before I make any sort of peep.

3. Why Am I Doing This?

I know, I know—this seems snarky at first. But in no way do I intend for you to lace this question with sass. What I do intend is for you to ask your boss for the purpose of what she assigned you.

Not only do I think this can help you tie more value to the work you’re doing, but it can also provide important context that’ll help you decide which direction to steer in.

For instance, if I’m asked to plan a stress management tips workshop and leave the room without asking the question, I’ll risk going about it the wrong way. Because if the targeted audience is undergraduate students, I’m most likely going to choose an evening time slot when most don’t have class. It’ll reference the typical stressors students face—balancing schedules for class, organizations, studying for finals, and so forth.

If it’s for the staff, though, I’ll schedule it during the typical of 9-to-5 workday and address topics such as dealing with an impossible co-worker , work-life balance, taking care of the kids or an aging family member, etc.

If I don’t know who the program is for, it’s hard to make it relatable.

4. What Exactly Are You Expecting From Me?

At the beginning of the fall semester, my manager asked me to assist with a student organization fair. I ensured some of our students signed up to work at the table and gathered all the materials.

And then, the day before, I had a slight freak out. Oh crap, I thought. I completely forgot to book the actual table for this event, and the scheduling system usually takes at least three days to confirm!

A few hours later, I learned my supervisor had already done that part. Phew! But if I’d known from the beginning which items were on her to-do list and which ones were on mine, I could have skipped the two hours of trying to bring down an extremely elevated heart rate.

Yes, as I mentioned before, it’s nice when your manager lays out everything for you from the get go. But here’s the thing: You may not have a great boss. And, even if you do, he’s probably not perfect, and he probably has a lot going on. It’s also part of your responsibility to be asking the right questions and to get as much information as possible. Setting yourself up for success is fun—I promise!—and these four questions will help you do so.

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How do I list a special project on my resume?

I'm hoping to get a job in management. Currently my only management experience is leading a special project at my current company. This project was a part time thing. I had about fifteen people working on this project, and everyone was expected to put in around 10% of their time for project related tasks. My regular job at this company had very little to do with this project.

How should I list this on my resume? I worked on the project for a year and a half, and it was a high profile thing for my company. I never had a title change for this project, and my regular title would not indicate any management tasks. I feel that I should prominently display this on my resume, but since it accounted for a small portion of my other job, how do I account for it without making it seem like it was a full time thing?

• @JoeStrazzere I'd say it depends on the industry, for instance a lot of game devs have to wear many hats on the same project so it's easier to layout some portion of their resume around the titles they've shipped. –  HireThisMarine Commented Apr 7, 2016 at 17:18

It is important to note that Project Management (which it sounds like what you did) and "People" Management are two very different skills and have their own unique career paths. In my experience it is rare to be immediately promoted into people management from outside a company if you aren't already a people manager. The best way to "rise through the ranks" so to speak, is to take an associate position and impress someone in management so that they mentor you and eventually assist you in taking the step from associate to manager.

That said, any special experience in line with your end-goals is worth noting on your resume. I like to call this type of work "Selected Accomplishments" on my resume and I list them under each individual position I have filled. In addition, if I feel that one of these selected accomplishments constitutes a skill (such as Project Management ) then I also highlight that skill at the top of my resume.

I have had good success with this layout and have listed an example below for reference with the section highlighted where I think your project experience should go.

Note: I work in IT so the System Experience section might not be as important to your industry.

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Stretch Assignments: What Are They and Is Your Employee Ready For One?

Stretch assignments are a cornerstone of a strong employee development plan. A statement that is backed by a number of research studies. In one conducted by the Harvard Business Review of 823 executives, it was found that 71% of respondents said stretch assignments had the biggest impact on unleashing their potential. In another, this one conducted by Korn Ferry, stretch assignments were named the most valuable developmental experience, ahead of things like mentoring, classroom training, 360-degree assessments, and even exposure to senior leaders.

An intentional and strategic stretch assignment can go a long way in accelerating an employee’s development or supporting the trajectory of their career at your organization, though their success relies heavily on the one assigning the task - their leader.

In the following article, you will learn more about what stretch assignments are, what they are not, how to tell when an employee is ready for one, and more. Let’s begin.

What are Stretch Assignments?

While there are countless ways to define a stretch assignment, the following definition from BeLeaderly perfectly sums it up for the purposes of this article: “Stretch assignments are temporary, internal learning gigs that simultaneously offer an employee a chance to develop new skills while helping the organization solve a real business problem.”

Most commonly, stretch assignments are implemented to prepare an employee for an upcoming promotion, engage a high-performing employee, encourage skill development, or evaluate an employee’s level of interest or aptitude for another role.

As the name implies, stretch assignments mean they “stretch” or challenge an employee to think and act outside their comfort zone or day-to-day job. But what exactly makes a stretch assignment challenging ?

• It presents employees with an unfamiliar challenge
• It challenges an employee to create change
• It gives an employee a high level of responsibility
• It challenges an employee to work cross-functionally

At this point, it is important to define what stretch assignments are not. Stretch assignments are not a chance for you to hand off work you do not want to do. They should also not be what Korn Ferry calls “glass-cliff projects.” According to them, “stretch assignments and glass-cliff projects both involve some risk and often include crisis situations, but one is about building your skills and the other is about proving your worth, despite your many successes. One is encouraging; the other is an affront.”

4 Signs Your Employee Is Ready For a Stretch Assignment

Of course, there is a fine line between “stretching” or challenging an employee and overwhelming them. To help you distinguish if an employee is ready for and can handle a stretch assignment or not, here are a few key things to consider: 

• Their Track Record An employee who is ready for a stretch assignment and can handle it will not only have a history of successful projects and good performance, but will have a track record of asking for help when they need it, respecting boundaries, proactively seeking learning opportunities, and taking accountability for their actions (whether good or bad). These behaviors show a level of discretion that is imperative to the success of a stretch assignment, where an employee is outside of their comfort zone.
• Their Engagement According to Gallup , “engaged employees are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace. They are psychological ‘owners,’ drive high performance and innovation, and move the organization forward.” Whereas, “actively disengaged employees aren't just unhappy at work - they are resentful that their needs aren't being met and are acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers potentially undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.” Fortunately, stretch assignments are an ideal chance to further engage already engaged employees and those bordering on disengaged. You should be quite certain that the individual you will give the assignment to will see it as a positive opportunity and be willing to do their best work, not just because they have to, but because they want to.

An employee who has been given a stretch assignment is going to need your support more so than they would for their everyday job. Therefore, before you give a stretch assignment, be sure you have the availability and capacity to proactively support your employee from start to finish. 

• Your Relationship Given the nature of stretch assignments, there is always a risk of failure and for some employees, failure is hard to handle even if it is a valuable learning experience. That is why it is so important to have a relationship built on trust before delegating a stretch assignment. Your employee needs to feel comfortable sharing their challenges and questions without fear of judgment, or else they might try to “go at it alone,” which is ultimately where people get themselves into trouble.

2 Major Things to Be Aware of With Stretch Assignments

• Stretch Assignments Should Not Impede An Employee’s Day-to-Day Job As a leader, you need to closely monitor the progress of a stretch assignment, the well-being of your employee, and the health of their day-to-day roles and responsibilities. If your employee is suddenly working an exorbitant amount or is showing signs of burnout , then you need to be prepared to step in. While the stretch assignment is important, it should not put your employee's core roles and responsibilities , not to mention their wellbeing, at risk. If this becomes an issue, use it as a learning opportunity to help the employee identify their signs of burnout and set boundaries .
• Stretch Assignments Need to be Fairly Distributed The unfortunate reality is stretch assignments are not always fairly distributed and accessible to all employees. This was highlighted in a study from BeLeaderly , which found that “women are less likely than men to receive challenging stretch assignments.” The report noted that “when stretch assignments are unclear, unadvertised, and unevenly offered, it makes women hesitate even more to pursue them. On the other hand, taking an open, equitable approach to stretch opportunities can create a thriving internal gig economy - one that’s accessible to all. This not only helps employees advance in the short term, but it can also set the course for diversifying, and therefore strengthening, your leadership ranks in the long term.” So, how can you ensure the distribution of stretch assignments is fair? According to a report by Catalyst , they recommend leaders link the distribution of stretch assignments to performance reviews, review the allocation of stretch assignments to ensure equitable distribution among women and equity-seeking groups, as well as consider providing new hires with a stretch assignment or assigning new hires to a team working on a stretch assignment. 

Employees who are given a stretch assignment will require more support, guidance, and encouragement than an average employee. Though the effort is well worth it as stretch assignments contribute to employee engagement, morale, satisfaction, productivity, and success, which in turn contributes to your success as their leader. It’s a win-win!

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