Your Performance Development Leader (PDL)
Your career sparring partner
At Deloitte, your PDL is more than a title—they're your committed partner in growth. They collaborate with you to establish clear objectives, maintain continuity as your primary point of contact for performance conversations throughout the year, and help you understand how you're progressing while identifying opportunities to further develop. Through regular, relevant feedback, your PDL helps you unlock your potential and chart a meaningful development path. They're here to challenge, support, and elevate your career journey.
Berkin Oezcan, Senior Manager in Technology & Transformation (T&T), shares his experience and insights both as a PDL and as somebody benefiting from their own PDL.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey at Deloitte.
I joined Deloitte in 2016 and have been part of three different teams since then. Most recently, I became the T&T Chief of Staff. While my primary focus has been on Customer Experience in Life Sciences, I've worked on a wide range of topics across industries with colleagues from different teams and geographies. I've had the pleasure of being the PDL for seven people and the coach for six others. Additionally, I'm the football captain of the Deloitte Switzerland team and have been involved with the Consultant Bootcamps for the past five years.
How do you see the role of a PDL, and how do you put it into practice?
I think the name of the role explains it quite nicely: Performance Development Lead. As a PDL, my job is to invest time and effort into helping my team members develop professionally.
It starts by understanding their background and career ambitions. Then, as time goes on, their strengths and areas for improvement begin to surface. Together, we work to further emphasize their strengths and identify ways to improve. I typically meet with my team members twice a month. During performance reviews, my role is to represent my team members in the most objective and factual manner possible. The frequent touchpoints, feedback gathered from others, and understanding of their career ambitions help significantly in preparing for these reviews.
As a PDL, how do you benefit from these developmental discussions?
I find it valuable to better understand what goes through the minds of the next generation of leaders in the firm—their concerns, their ambitions, and their aspirations. Additionally, I enjoy sharing anecdotes from my career, and the PDL sessions provide an opportunity to be introspective and share what might be relevant to my team members from my own career and life experiences.
Have you had a PDL yourself, and how were they helpful for you?
Of course! Who doesn't have a PDL at Deloitte? 😉 I've had a long-standing relationship with my PDL. He has guided me through every milestone, helping me make the right decisions and operate effectively within the Deloitte ecosystem. I recently changed PDLs due to my new role, and it's interesting to see how different PDLs bring different value propositions to my career development.
What advice would you offer to someone becoming a PDL for the first time?
"Be the PDL that you want to have." I borrowed this phrase from the well-known saying "Be the change you want to see in the world." But it's true. Nobody wants a disconnected or disinterested PDL. I would recommend thinking about what kind of PDL you want to have and becoming that for your team members.
