A manager's No. 1 job is to create 'resume-worthy' experiences for employees, says Netflix's original chief talent officer - and using the '6-month rule' is key

Greg Sandoval/Business Insider

Patty McCord, Netflix's former chief talent officer.

• Patty McCord was the first chief talent officer at Netflix and co-creator of the famous culture deck. Now she's an HR consultant and author.
• At a Business Insider webinar, she spoke to BI correspondent Shana Lebowitz about the six-month test.
• This test applies to employees and managers alike, and makes them ask a difficult question: "Am I part of or building the right team?"
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The best time frame to decide whether or not you want to be at a company is six months.

Patty McCord, former chief talent officer at Netflix, spoke of this strategy in a webinar with Business Insider. She told BI correspondent Shana Lebowitz that if you can ask that six-month question, you can orient your actions based on your answer.

"The job of management is to create resume-worthy experiences," McCord said. "Something you've done that is resume-worthy usually takes six months."

Consider six months the ideal time frame for building something that you can bring with you on your job search or use to elevate your current position within a company. This technique doesn't mean that within six months, you commit to a company forever.

"When your company talks to you about engagement, they didn't put a ring on it," McCord said.

Your engagement within a company lasts as long as the arrangement is mutually beneficial. As an employee, you have to have an individual sense of direction that translates to tactical actions.

This means asking questions like, "Is this a place I want to be at in six months? Is this a useful path for me? What outcomes do I have to show?"

"For me, success is about results," McCord said, "and if you can focus on what your great results are going to be for you as an employee, then you're going to be more successful."

The six-month rule also helps you to hire the right people

On the other side, if you're a manager working to build the best team possible, you have to ask: If my team was amazing in six months, what would be occurring then that isn't occurring now?

"Just by doing that exercise, between the team that you have and the success that you want your team to have, you'll realize it's different people," McCord said.

McCord explained that if you already had the right team, you would be doing the things you envisioned. As a manager you may realize that you need to hire someone to fill a gap within the team.

You can also clarify your vision as a leader within a six-month time frame so that employees have ample time to decide if your broader narrative aligns with their individual one. And managers in turn can evaluate whether an employee still fits on their team.

"It's about dissecting not just the individual, but the whole team itself," McCord said, "and where you're going and what you're gonna do and putting time on it."