A conversation about someone's longer-term direction is different from a performance conversation, and by month six you should have had at least one.
Performance conversations are about right now. A growth conversation is about where someone is headed, and it's easy to let it slide because it doesn't carry a deadline's urgency. But by six months, most people on your team have an unspoken theory about their own trajectory, and it's worth finding out what it is before it quietly shapes their decisions without your input.
Ask directly where they see themselves in a year or two
Not just what their next review might say, the actual direction they're picturing for themselves.
Be honest about what's realistic without shutting it down
You can name a real gap between where they are and where they want to be without discouraging the ambition itself.
Write down what you agreed matters to them
You'll need it again in six more months, and it's easy to forget the specifics of a conversation like this once the next deadline arrives.