What is your competitive career strategy?

In terms of organisational strategy, Michael Porter describes strategy as:

"Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value."

So how do we do apply this approach to our career change or existing career paths?

We learn how to define, express and communicate our purpose to show where we can impact by creating our career mission, vision and value statements to honour our objectives and what we are trying to achieve. 

Think of the brands you value. How do they define their purpose? 

Your mission: What is it you want to do? If your role or industry didn't exist tomorrow, would it matter to the world? How will you show you can make a difference?

Your vision: What do you want to achieve in the future? What do you want your life and career to look like in 10 years or more? How does that sit with your personal and professional values?

Your values: What is important to you? What does it give you? Why does it matter? These are the underlying core principles that will build your career strategy.

Your objectives: What is your competitive advantage? What is the ROI to invest in you? What is the ROI for others to invest in you?

All of your strategy statements and objectives have to be realistic. You should have the capabilities to deliver them and measure them and your efforts to determine how successful you have been or will be. 

What you want to do now to gain a competitive advantage is to leverage all these statements to gain a competitive advantage and position yourself to enter new positions or industries. 

To begin working on your personal career strategy, you can book a one-off session initially to explore more here.

6 Conscious Practical Steps to Take After You Are Laid Off

One of the things that dawned on me as I began writing this piece was that nobody said to me when I lost my job that it was shit.

Now, I'm not one to run away from emotions so I wanted to say today yeah, it is shit and I can relate and be empathetic.

Here is some practical advice with layers of empathetic energy from my head and heart.

I hope it helps.

1. Allow yourself to process the grief then breathe.

It's shit, I get it and I have been there. Be comfortable sitting with the ego-bruising it brings but also be self-compassionate.

Go easy on yourself as you begin to find your future focus. Without healing, there can be no harmony with your future professional self.

2. Create the space to curate a list of your strengths and weaknesses.

I guarantee there will be more strength.

3. Tell people you lost your job and are looking for a new one.

Once you have healed open up and allow opportunities to show up. That is not to say you won't have to do the work, you do but if you don't put it out there it can never come back to you.

You don't have to feel shame. I guarantee you so many will relate and help you to create new focus and direction.

4. Consciously curate your entire network

Not only on LinkedIn but everyone who you have had a good experience with and learned from in your whole career. When you have the confidence and courage to reach out take a chance and do so.

When you reach out, people want to help especially in times like we are experiencing today.

5. "SEO" your LinkedIn

Use words that will help your profile be stand out recruiters. Put industry-relevant keywords in your Headline, About and Experience section. Find the right keywords by examining job descriptions, look at other people's LinkedIn profiles, and use a Google keyword tool.

And finally...

6. Embrace it

I know it may seem overwhelming but there is great excitement reinventing yourself. You can read my blog on my own reinvention here. Many people find they have been living a professional void for a long time. They have filled it with habits that have not served their benefit.

Now is a great time to fill that void with things you value and realign with resilience and direction.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you the best of success with your search and future career.

Feel free to check out my blog in more detail or my LinkedIn for daily tips and advice.

Do You Know Why Your Work and Your Story is Important?

I've been in my career transition now since my redundancy in 2015. I'm at a stage in my life and career where what I do matters so much it is a part of me. It is value-driven so it is intentional. My souls purpose as such. 

I'm damned if I'm going to give it up without a fight. I made it past my third year in business. That is an achievement in its own right! But I'm still not taking a salary for myself.

I never bullshit people in this regard. I have had to make major adjustments to my life and spending to pull off this career transition. For many clients I work with who are planning full 360's we work on exit strategies that are years out. Being a former broker I advocate people ensure money is not going to be a crutch in a career change. Risk assessment is my thing.

But I am blessed that I have made enough in the past year to reinvest in myself as a professional and my business. Up until now, I have been backing myself. And there will be times again in this process that I will have to do that again.

But that is a risk I am prepared to take because I know why my work and my story is important. Deep down I know how difficult it would be for me to return to do work for the sake of a paycheck. I need it to mean something and so my transition continues. 

Soul not for sale so the show must go on.

I believe in my work. I believe in myself. I know that it will work out. Before I wandered through my past life without any narrative. I believed in nothing. When we don't take the time to know our story and the value it brings to our soul's purposes we wander. 

We can get bored. 

We can get lost. 

With no direction, the internal conflict ends up being the compass. We keep ending up somewhere we are not meant to be. There is nothing worse than staying somewhere we don't belong. Somewhere that doesn't nourish our personal or professional growth. 

It's soul-destroying. If you choose growth and have no fear courage becomes the compass. 

• Who knows what is coming next?

• What do you believe about your work? 

• Why is it important?

Remember the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. Keep showing up even on the days you don't feel like it and plant some small seeds this week. Trust me it is worth going that extra mile. It is never crowded there.

Whether you know what you want to do next or you are still evaluating your options I can help you:

1. Imagine your other professional self

2. Identify the skill sets you need to progress in your career or transition to another industry

3. Assess the financial implications of the change you are considering

4. Assess new roles and learning without endangering your current role

5. Explain a long career narrative with confidence

6. Pitch yourself into a new role

If you feel like you need more guidance you can book a discounted one-off perspective session here

How To Help Yourself Gain Traction To Do Your Most Impactful Work

How can you help yourself gain traction on doing your most important work?

Making a life-changing decision to leave a job behind and build a career involves leading yourself with emotional courage. Here are four elements of leading yourself with emotional courage adapted from one of my WBECS Coaching Mentors Peter Bregman:

1. CONFIDENCE IN SELF

Helps you to be secure enough in not knowing. It takes a belief in yourself that it won’t destroy you if everyone points at you and says you are crazy. You’re connected with yourself, and stay grounded in the face of failure or uncertainty or success. You don’t get thrown around by the winds of life. You’re ok with knowing things and can accept feedback without getting defensive.

2. CONNECTION TO OTHERS

If you have confidence but aren’t connected to others, you’re going to lose people. You will appear arrogant, even if you’re not. If you’re super connected to others but not confident in yourself, you’ll give yourself away to please the people around you.

3. COMMITMENT TO PURPOSE

Less about brilliant ambitious vision but more about focus. Do we focus on what’s most important to us? It’s about clarity and focus on your most important work. Do you spend your energy on what makes the biggest difference?

4. EMOTIONAL COURAGE

Works symbiotically with the previous three. COMMITMENT TO PURPOSE and EMOTIONAL COURAGE are the two key elements that will have the greatest benefit of increasing your chances of making a career change in the future.

What’s stopping you? EMOTIONAL COURAGE - THE WILLINGNESS TO FEEL If you are willing to feel everything, you can do anything and move through any challenge.

Emotional courage is at the root of all forward momentum.

If you need further guidance you can book an online discounted once-off perspective session here

How Troubling The Story I Told Myself Was About My Life and Career

One of the most powerful shifts in my life was when someone said this to me:

“Pauline, things don’t have to be this way at all.”

I have been recently reflecting on how troubling the stories I told myself about myself were in my past. They still show up and can cause me to get in my way. I made myself a version of someone else's story due to the lies I was telling myself. I spent years being emotionally ripped off by my own choice. I was trying to catch dreams and shape my reality with wishful thinking and band-aids. Sometimes I caught dreams at the bottom of a bottle, in piles of junk food, pain medications and in the drags of every cigarette I inhaled.

I think we are all addicted to something. The trick is to ensure your addiction benefits your personal and professional growth. I was doing damage with my indifference. There was a disconnect between who I was and wanting to become. A false reality as such that I was shaping for myself in my life and career. 

It was fiction built on fear. As a result, distraction was inevitable. Distraction is something people feel compelled to seek while waiting for the inevitable. I cannot say that is cowardly or wrong as I did it in the past. I was creating a very troubling story and legacy through distraction. I am grateful to have now found practices that nourish me. I have respect for their value. They are fuel for my flame. They keep me lit.

Cue powerful prompt for consideration...

What am I distracting myself with to avoid addressing conflict in my life or career? 

Letting go of my fear and the fictional stories I was telling myself was hard. I had attached fear and self-doubt to every available neural pathway in my brain. I had years of practice, so it was a perfect breeding ground for anxiety and pessimism.

I had many self-limiting beliefs about my life and career goals.

“I can’t lose weight it is in my genes”

“I can’t swim, I won’t float I’m going to sink”

“I can’t lift weights my fused spine will break”

“I can’t get better ”

“I can’t talk, I have no voice so I’ll stay silent”

“I can’t be happy because I don’t deserve it”

“I can’t tell my story, no one will want to hear it”

"I'll never do anything or be anyone again."

What were my options?

How could I be brave and rewrite a new narrative if I could not acknowledge my fear? Without fear, there is no courage.

In July 2014 I got into a swimming pool, I couldn’t swim. It wasn’t the fear of the water itself but the fear of not being able to breathe. But I hadn’t been breathing for years. I was suffocating, drowning in a pool of self-pity and sorrow. Within ten minutes my swimming coach had me breathing under the water. I knew when I came up for my next breath of air it was going to be okay.

From that moment on I decided to create a new story. 

Fear is only a weakness if it stops you from being curious.

Do you feel despair because it feels like a significant change in your life or career will never happen? The first step is to stop distracting yourself with bullshit stories and coping strategies that serve you no purpose. Get inspired and find something that will motivate you to work through it. That way you will keep treading water until you get out of a lull. You can get out of your head and into a new life and career. Change is within your reach.

Here are some head and heart tips to start the new week. It could be the start of something small that leads to something big in time.

Pay attention to your whispers so you won't have to hear the screams.

The above is a famous saying by the Cherokee. What is your inner voice and restlessness telling you about the direction you need to go in?

Test your future

What is possible? How can you explore your interests and develop new capabilities? For some, it could be deciding to shed a few pounds and get healthier as in my case. This step alone can lead you to discover your inner strength.

You will feel empowered because you have broken through your limitations. This can lead to more radical reinventions. For me, it saved my life. I knew I was not happy and things had to change. I'd had enough. That clarity and resolve set me up to take bigger steps.

Practice Opportunism

Creating a new story full of potential is a lot easier if you are open and willing to make the most of opportunities that come your way. To commit to change you have to learn to prime and pitch yourself into any new opportunity you may have overlooked in the past. What have you got to lose?

Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Manage your present, shed your past

You will notice how leaders continue to manage the present while building towards big changes in the future. Self-leadership is the same. What is no longer serving your purpose?

Nourish your growth

How can you find a way to dig into your courageous self to be who you are. Whatever that means for you be it exploring your emotions or your personal and professional identity. Then find one version of you that represents your value-driven purpose and stay connected to it.

Build resilience

You are now facing your fear so resistance will show up. If you are connected to your value-driven purpose above it will cultivate a deeply profound sense of intentional and consciously driven ambition to succeed. You name your fears but you don't let them shut you down.

Embrace the cycle of renewal

It never ends. I have no desire to make millions so my career transition has always been about growth. Consider where you are at in your own life and career at present. Where are you in the cycle of renewal? Are you intentionally shedding the past, consciously preserving the present and bravely creating the future? 

Prompts above inspired by HBR's Guide to Changing Your Career available here.

For more on coaching and consulting see here. 

Stay curious!

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.”

James Stephens

If you feel like you need more guidance, you can arrange a one-off perspective session at a discounted cost via my booking calendar here

What Core Needs Must My Career Meet?

Have you ever created the space to ask yourself these questions?

Maybe you could find some time in this new month to do so.

Here are some prompts and further thought-provoking to help you with this valuable exercise. 

Personal and Professional Values:

What is most important to you in the next one to three years?

What are your values around this?

What do you really need in your life and how do you envision your career attributing to it?

Things like financial security, benefits and stability matter.

Time is a factor also. It is one of your most valuable resources. 

How much freedom and flexibility would you like?

Self-fulfilment:

Intrinsic 
How much personal growth, learning and impact do you want to have?

We all need to feel like we are progressing and part of something to build our self-esteem and natural confidence.

Extrinsic
What about your job title? Does it matter to you?

Are prestige and authority important to you?

Relationships:

What type of people do you like to work with?

What type of company culture is important for you to thrive?

What teamwork do you enjoy?

Are workplace friendships important to you?

What management opportunities exist for you?

Mobility:

What movement would you prefer in your role?

Is there freedom from repetition?

It is one of the biggest reasons I see people come to me in my practice!

Boredom from repetition can result in demotivation, decreased confidence and low impact.

You might think all of these are important at present and they very well may be.

But it is crucial to prioritise the most important ones in the present moment.

Then you can begin to create an actionable career vision for the next few years.

If you are having difficulty doing this at present  this final question may elicit the most important answers for you in time:

What is missing from your current role?

Feel free to contact me to discuss in more detail. Happy to help as always.

For more details on consulting packages see here. You can also book a one-off consultation at a discounted cost here