client chat with Christine
Each month I use a conversation with a client of mine that has come to me for help.
This month Christine (not her real name) has come to me talking about career and she is feeling lost, confused and flat about her situation and is frustrated and wants to make a change.
Her words included “ Change” and “now”.
As I do with all my clients I need to get up close and granular with what the root cause of this concern is, initially it sounds like this job has to go and fast, which could be difficult in some industries at this point in time. The last thing we want to do is have a quick decision impact in ways that are difficult to navigate. However don’t forget only one thing is final in life and quitting a job is not it.
Sounds like she needs to quit tomorrow?
Initially Christine sounded like she was ready to leave ASAP and that this job was not for her...or was it?
Below are a few of the questions I used during the awareness session, you can try them yourself.
When you are at your best at work, what images come up?
What are you doing in your work to express that?
Why is your career such a focus right now?
Why is this important to you?
Why are you looking to make these changes relating to your career?
Why have you not achieved this in your career?
What does a 10/10 career look like to you?
What are 3 things that must happen for you in the next 12 months to be happy at work?
What do you specifically want to change?
What industry are you passionate about?
What are your 3 best skills?
What do you need to learn to move to this new industry?
What does the right organisation look like?
How does the rest of your life look with these changes?
How do you feel knowing you can make these changes?
What can you do tomorrow to start progress?
Does this job enable you to survive or thrive?
The more we explored what was going on with Christine and the more we removed the frustration, emotion and angst the more we uncovered a really different story was in play. (Never assume anything)
Leaving her job and the company she had been in for 15 years was not really what she wanted. In fact, it was probably one of the last things that she really wanted to do but it was on the table.
The biggest problem faced by Christine is that she was no longer feeling fulfilled in her role and no longer felt like she was contributing and making progress. I said well “why don’t you go and find something new? New role, new industry, new everything?”
We explored further and further. See, I have known Christine for some time and her number 1 human need is certainty. This was certainly one of the main reasons why she has stayed in the same company for 15 years: she needs certainty in her life. The kicker is that growth and feeling like she is contributing to a greater cause also rank really high for her and those were not being met at all in her current work environment, so as much as certainty is being felt her other really important factors were causing conflict.
Her top 3s were:
Certainty;
Growth/Progress; and
Contribution to a cause.
With the others listed below as a bonus:
Love/Connection
Achievement
Significance/Importance
Uncertainty
We had much back and forth over the session and to Christine’s credit, she was open to digging in to find what she was searching for. What came out of this exercise was not about a new big role but the ability to evolve in her current one and contribute to the new team members as part of their work journey.
So the process we used with Christine on this occasion was the ‘Build a ladder’ exercise:
Identify the goal
List the benefits
List the obstacles that might derail the plan
Knowledge and skill needed to succeed
Who are the people they need to call on
Action plan
Set deadline
Why did I believe ‘Build a ladder’ to be really helpful at this stage?
I really like this one for points 4 and 5. What skill and knowledge is required and who are the people to call on? This is so important at this stage as there are lots of external tasks that Christine needs to get right in order to make progress on her goal. They related to skills and engaging with people such as her direct boss to understand if this could be possible and identify the internal next steps to get going.
At the time of writing this story, Christine was still in negotiation for what would keep her satisfied and within the organisation but all was on track due to the value she brought and passion she displayed for the organisation and the wider team.
I hope he has inspired you to make some change!