Category: Career Development and Transitions

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Wholeness: Looking at the Whole System

“Helen, you simply can’t do this to me, you are the steady one; you are the one who holds it all together. I need you to stay just the way you are.” 

 

A systems approach begins when first you see the world through the eyes of another.  Charles West Churchman

When Change Meets Resistance

Linda’s words stopped me in my tracks. It was 1987, the final year of my psychotherapy training. Vulnerability was essential for my growth, yet not everyone welcomed it.

That moment taught me something profound: personal change doesn’t happen in isolation. It ripples through the systems we belong to and not all parts of those systems want us to change. Continue reading “Wholeness: Looking at the Whole System”

“Helen, you simply can’t do this to me, you are the steady one; you are the one who holds it all together. I need you to stay just the way you are.” 

 

A systems approach begins when first you see the world through the eyes of another.  Charles West Churchman

When Change Meets Resistance

Linda’s words stopped me in my tracks. It was 1987, the final year of my psychotherapy training. Vulnerability was essential for my growth, yet not everyone welcomed it.

That moment taught me something profound: personal change doesn’t happen in isolation. It ripples through the systems we belong to and not all parts of those systems want us to change. Continue reading “Wholeness: Looking at the Whole System”

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Career change crossroads – don’t get stuck at the junction – it may be time to move on…

Gone are the days of having one career for life.  Times have changed.

Today’s global market-place makes our working lives more impermanent and unpredictable plus with a potentially longer working life we’re less likely to settle with something that merely pays the bills.  We want something more – so phrases like ‘self-improvement’ and ‘personal journey’ become part of our criteria when considering our work.  Many participants who come to train with Wise Goose feel that they’re at a crossroads and are looking to step forward into something new.  Recent Wise Goose graduate and Career Coach Lucy Weldon wrote in a previous Wise Goose blog “If you don’t like your job, be clear on the reasons.  And if you’re not sure what they are, go and talk them through with someone, as well as start to explore what you could do.  There’s lots of aspects that could improve your lot before you change job.  But if it is a change that you are looking for, there is plenty of advice available… Be positive.  It helps achieve the right outcome.”

What factors contribute to arriving at this career crossroads?  Sometimes a change in our personal lives makes us feel lost, becoming a parent may shift priorities from work to home, children growing up and leaving the nest can make us feel empty, or maybe we’re no longer with people we enjoy and respect.  Writing for Forbes, Kathy Caprino writes “We can feel lost when our work has pulled us away from our core values and our sense of integrity and honesty. We can feel lost when we’re being mistreated and discriminated against…” identifying feelings that contribute to what she calls ‘power gaps’ which ultimately stop us from being effective authors of our own lives.

If we’ve identified that we need a career change – then the next step is working out what we want so we can move forward and take control.  The School of Life says its because our brains aren’t well equipped to interpret and understand themselves.  “We cannot sit down and simply inquire of ourselves directly what we might want to do with our working lives – we must learn to tease out insights concealed in apparently tiny movements of satisfaction and distress scattered across our lives.”  Recognising how vague our minds are helps gain a new perspective… “We start to appreciate that our career analysis is going to take time, that it has many stages, that the reach for an immediate answer can backfire – and that it is a strangely magnificent, delicate and noble task to work out what one should most justly do with the rest of one’s brief life on earth. We should have the confidence to believe that large portions of a sound answer are already in us.”    

Career Coach Maggie Mistal sees the process as being more akin to doing a jigsaw puzzle, finding the pieces and putting them together.  She suggests examining a variety of factors including ideal salary, skills you most enjoy using, finding what motivates you, your unique mission or purpose, and details like size of a company and location of an employer.

Of course it takes courage – and timing is key.  Lucy Weldon believes you should look before you leap in order to reduce uncertainty about the feature.   “What I am certain about is that ‘managing uncertainty’ is a skill that helps inordinately in life. It’s the knowing when to push, when to wait and allow luck, the Universe, or whatever to intervene, provided the groundwork is done.”  One way to do that groundwork could be to enlist for training as a coach.  Not only will adding coaching to your portfolio open options which can make you more employable in a new career, but it will help you in your own self-growth.  To that end Wise Goose runs free taster days where you can test the water and see if coaching really is for you – with no financial outlay it just might get you out of neutral and set you on your way.  What do you think?  Are you ready to change gear and move forward from your career crossroads?   

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Beginner Coach – What’s it really like to start out?

As a trainer, it’s not easy to give a true to life flavour of what it’s like to start out, or convey the ups and downs of learning to coach, so I asked a  Ali,  to share her experience of joining a Foundations Course.

Ali has a background in PR, has worked as a personal trainer (and successful blogger), and is currently working in government as a Parliamentary Manager, as well as being a mother of 15 month old twins.

Coaching has interested me since around 2010, when I first worked with a coach who helped me transition from a career in public relations to one in health and fitness. My interest grew through my work as a personal trainer, as I found it frustrating that although I had great success with many clients, there were some who found barriers to any change suggested and I wondered whether coaching might be the answer to enable them to move forward.

Fast forward eight years and a further career shift back to a management role, and the idea of coaching started to pull at me again. Cue an internet search to identify whether I could do a course, how long it would take, and how much it would cost. I knew that if I was going to study, then I wanted to do an accredited course. A general google search led me to the Association for Coaching, which revealed that there were two accredited courses in my area, one of which, the Wild Goose Advanced Coaching Diploma, immediately looked like the right one for me.

I enthusiastically contacted Helen, and a few emails and an application form later, I had been offered a place on the course. I was really keen to get going, so I started reading relevant books, listening to podcasts and scanning through websites and magazines. Once I had the official reading list and could make a start on that I was thrilled!

However, all my enthusiasm started to be tinged with a little anxiety as the first weekend grew near. I had a slight niggling doubt that everyone else might be successful coaches already – yes, the rational me also wonders why they would be taking a course if this were true, or that they would all be senior managers in global companies, and that I, with my somewhat varied career background wouldn’t fit in at all.

Within seconds of arriving on the Friday, and ignoring the bit where I went the wrong way and found myself wandering round Helen’s garden – she didn’t know that until now, I felt much more at ease as I met a group of ten, friendly, interesting and approachable people, all from different backgrounds, but all with the goal of exploring the idea of coaching either as a career change, or as an addition to an existing career.

Helen and Diana, our trainers for the weekend, got us started straight away with an icebreaker, and it was fun to find out who in the group liked wild swimming and who played a musical instrument. We then moved on to a range of practical exercises, such as staring into the eyes of another group member for around five minutes (!), and trying out various coaching techniques while walking up a steep hill. Not only did the exercises on day one help us to bond and get to know each other as a group, they also taught us important elements of coaching, such as focus, listening and questioning, and made us laugh, so it was the ideal way to start.

I’d love to say that after this I breezed through the rest of the weekend, but the reality is that on the Saturday morning I just didn’t feel right. There was a niggling feeling at the back of my mind that I wasn’t on the right course, that this one was too focused on business coaching, and that it just wasn’t working for me. After an hour or two of questioning myself, I decided to speak to Helen, who took the time to listen to me. Ten minutes later and I was feeling markedly better, and reassured that this probably was the right course for me, and that the different backgrounds of those on the course was what would make the group work well, as we all have different skills and experiences to bring to the table.

The weekend continued with a great mix of practical and more traditional learning as we got to grips with coaching techniques such as the GROW model, explored the differences between values, virtues and character strengths, learnt to give good feedback, looked at tools such as the wheel of life, and practiced delivering and receiving coaching sessions. I also had the opportunity to have a coaching session observed by Helen, and to hear her say that something I had done during the session was ‘outstanding’ was a real high point of the weekend.

During our final practical session on the Sunday, I had a real ‘this is what I am meant to be doing’ moment, which felt amazing, and spending more time getting to know the group through peer learning time that afternoon was the ideal way to end the weekend.

Overall, despite a few ups and downs, the first weekend was an amazing experience. I feel like I learnt a huge amount about both coaching and myself. I am really excited to see where this journey will take me and I look forward to our next weekend, and to the peer coaching in the meantime.

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Will you make that change?

Advanced Diploma in Coaching

 

If you are feeling stuck in the wrong career read on – thanks to Wise Goose graduate and career coach Lucy Weldon for sharing her thoughts in this post…

A new year often kick-starts conversations about the future.  You might be thinking about changes that need to be made around your career or your current job.  Time away over a festive period can bring a different perspective.  What matters is action and not letting the months slip by.   Here are some typical predicaments that you may have talked about over Christmas and the New Year period.

Do you continue to grit your teeth in a job you don’t like?   Feeling stuck?  There are a number of factors that influence how you feel about your job.  Here’s a rule of thumb (from Ann Guo, Passion Analytics, USA) for how long you should ‘suck up’ a job.  In your 20’s, it’s four years; in your 30’s, it’s two years; in your 40’s, it’s 1 year; in your 50’s, it’s 6 months. How long have you been in a job that you don’t like?

If you don’t like your job, be clear on the reasons.  And if you’re not sure what they are, go and talk them through with someone, as well as start to explore what you could do.  There’s lots of aspects that could improve your lot before you change job.  But if it is a change that you are looking for, there is plenty of advice available.  Start with friends and family; then go and talk to peers/colleagues or someone who’s recently changed job.  Be positive.  It helps achieve the right outcome.

You’re coming to the end of this particular career path, what else can you do? It’s a great question and so relevant today.   It can also be about a change that is being forced on you.  Are you a specialist?  Have you been in the same company or in the same kind of role for a long time?  You might be a bit rusty when it comes to CV writing and interviewing, let alone looking for a new role.  A bit of courage can also come in handy as well as a proper professional process to look at what you do next and how to manage the transition successfully.  Multiple careers with on-going personal development are the hallmarks of the world of work now and going forwards (The 100-year life. Gratton & Scott).

What are you going to do when you retire?  You still love working.  Well, you don’t have to retire and maybe you can’t afford to retire yet.  Statistics about pensions and the lack of funding in pensions are well known.   It’s important to have an idea of what life looks like after the official retirement takes place and financial plans are made.  Working, keeping one’s hand in, contributing, keeping the finances going are characteristics of our society now.  It can be a great time to consider new opportunities.  PWC predicts that self-employment is a growing trend, over the next 10 years. The Office for National Statistics estimates that around 1 in 5 people aged over 50 is self-employed, a higher proportion than for any other age group.  You might become an olderpreneur.

What’s the advice?

So, for all these predicaments (and others), there is no set piece of advice.  Career advice is bespoke and should be holistic and thorough.

I’m a

‘look before you leap’ kind of career coach when it comes to any major change.  It needs thinking through.  It can be a combination of ‘head’ and ‘heart’ that helps you make a decision. But there is a professional process available.  A coaching conversation will give you clarity, confidence and a much firmer grip on what needs to happen.

There are steps that can be taken to reduce uncertainty about the future. But what I am certain about is that ‘managing uncertainty’ is a skill that helps inordinately in life. It’s the knowing when to push, when to wait and allow luck, the Universe, or whatever to intervene, provided the groundwork is done.

The groundwork takes time and effort.  It’s all about building a sustainable career that addresses your needs today and it’s always good practice to keep one eye on the future.  Don’t wait for a crisis.  Keep up to date by talking to people, know what’s happening in terms of market trends and keep your network thriving.

Lastly, I want to talk about money.  Life is often fundamentally shaped by this.  Terry Waite, once envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was kidnapped in Hezbollah in January 1987 and held captive for nearly 5 years.  In an interview in the Sunday Times recently, he said that his most important lesson about money was that whilst you must make sensible plans for the future, live each day as it comes and live it as fully as you can.  In other words, don’t let financial concerns dominate at the expense of your day to day life.  That’s beautifully balanced advice in my book.

Are you looking to develop a more sustainable career then you have at the moment?  You can contact Lucy lucy@lucyweldoncoaching.com or via www.lucyweldoncoaching.com.

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The Climbing Wall – A new way of looking at our working lives

Many thanks to Wise Goose graduate Lucy Weldon for this post.  Lucy is a career coach who specialises in the development of sustainable careers.

Have you thought about what living to a hundred will be like?  It will soon be unremarkable to live that long.  Many societies, including the UK, are rapidly ageing.  There’s lots of discussion about the funding challenge but not enough about the decades that precede our twilight years and what we do with our longer lives.

In the book, The 100-year Life by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, the authors talk about this extended life and working life as being a gift.  It’s certainly a positive way of looking at it.  However, it depends on your individual circumstances.  If you live in the USA without health insurance or you depend solely on the UK government pension with little personal savings, the extended working life is a worrying and onerous necessity.

We’re seeing already that the simple career path of a ‘job for life’ is losing its currency.  The vertical career ladder of ‘onwards and upwards’ needs to change to what I call a multi-staged climbing wall model.  Now, more than ever, we need to look at our working lives differently and to manage them more proactively.   Luck will always play its part, but it won’t necessarily get you to where you want or need to get to.

My focus with clients is on having a ‘sustainable career’; by that I mean having a working life that brings in the required financial reward as well as fulfilment, purpose and balance.  How do we achieve this?  It won’t just happen.

Here are some aspects of career management to think about.  They are not necessarily age specific.  Responses to them will be rooted much more in life stage:

  • Re-framing the working life. Given extended lives, the potential exists to look at our careers differently.  Experts now talk about the career as being a marathon, a long journey, a series of short sprints with essential holding patterns in between. I see it more as a climbing wall.
  • Multiple careers. Because the choices exist and the imperative is growing, we will have a number of careers or career paths. This will require us to be flexible, resilient and creative. And to keep on learning and investing in ourselves and our working lives.
  • Re-thinking your working identity.  ‘I’ve always been a ……’.  That may change and may have to change.  What you will also need is a clear understanding of your skills and strengths as well as the kind of work that you find enjoyable and stimulating as you go through your working life.
  • Work life balance. It’s critical to talk about work life balance.  Will we be like the Japanese and have a word that sums up the worst extreme of this imbalance?  ‘Karoshi’ is a Japanese word that means death through overwork.  The UK is known for its long working hours.
  • Financial reward to fit your life stage and lifestyle. Unsurprisingly, money can dictate conversations about working lives.  It is an important
  • consideration.  Whilst money can be a short-term motivator, poor financial reward is a sure fire demotivator that sets in quickly.  Establishing what you want and need is vital, and it typically changes with lifestyle and life stage.
  • On-going personal development within your current role and the future direction of your career. Finishing your education in your younger years reflects the old working life model.  Investing in you, your future working life and a different career direction may well depend on a period of acquiring new knowledge, skills, credentials and qualifications.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?  Yes, you can!

It’s the ‘whole you’ not just the ‘working you’ that needs to be looked at and considered.  It’s also about making our extended lives more a voyage of discovery than a haphazard, hoping for the best kind of experience.  When you have choices, when you can get on the front foot, why wouldn’t you?

Find out more about Lucy’s work at www.lucyweldoncoaching.com or contact her at lucy@lucyweldoncoaching.com

 

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“A Magnificent Profession” – The future of management?

shutterstock_109645829Management is out of fashion, not many people want to be called a manager, they might want their title to be leader, or entrepreneur, or even coach – but manager?

Executives have been getting bad press for years now, they are thought to lack integrity, a 2008 Gallup poll on honesty and ethics found that 37% rated executives low or very low. Things haven’t improved since then.  Is it possible that the way management is portrayed by ‘leadership’ gurus encourages ethical decline? Continue reading ““A Magnificent Profession” – The future of management?”

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Where are women managers going?

Business Executives Running in a RaceOrganisations are losing women.

They are leaving at all levels, draining the intellectual capital of all kinds of organisations. It isn’t because there is a deficit in woman – there’s plenty of evidence that women are doing better academically than men.  So why is all this talent and potential being wasted?

Last month I attended a great CPD day with Exeter University’s Centre for Leadership Studies Professional Network to explore the issue.

Dr Ruth Sealy of Cranfield University began by reporting the good news: the Top 100 FTSE Boards met Lord Davies target of 25% women participating on Boards by 2015, that’s at least one woman on every board, not many but better than zero. Continue reading “Where are women managers going?”

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How to Choose a Coach

Paint Swatches

The other day a friend was quizzing me about coaching and how to go about hiring a coach.  It’s a big investment of time, energy and money and going about finding the right coach can be a daunting prospect. How can you maximize your chances of getting it right? What kinds of questions to ask? What to look for? How to ensure a good ‘fit’?

Here are a few suggestions: Continue reading “How to Choose a Coach”

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Coaching Through Organisational Change

bomb

Recently, one of my clients described her leadership role as working in a minefield. She pictured herself in potentially hostile territory, without a map, not knowing if a bomb was inches away. A powerful image of turbulent organisational life; with economic uncertainty, rapidly changing technology, globalisation, restructuring, downsizing and good old fashioned acquisitions and mergers. All contributing to unpredictable, potentially explosive working environments, places where hidden explosives of depression, anxiety and stress can blow your life apart.

Continue reading “Coaching Through Organisational Change”

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Stop; Breathe;Take Stock

busy shutterstock_40161490Many thanks to Irene Brankin, one of the Wise Goose Team, for this guest post where she shares some thoughts about the stress, pressure and general busyness of life and talks about the theme of  her next book. Irene will be speaking at the Coaching Connect event on October 11th.

We’re all so busy ‘chasing our tails’ these days especially with social media, and all the new technology that is coming out. We’re being told how much we need these things and how they are different from what we’ve got – if we use them in the first place! All pressure and more pressure. Continue reading “Stop; Breathe;Take Stock”