Career Enhancement

So what is career enhancement and why might you be interested in taking advantage of it?

Here are a few of the very common scenarios that I work with people to resolve in support of them making their biggest and best contribution in their careers (and lives).

Accidental careers often result when people take advantage of opportunities that are put in front of them.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with this right up until it no longer works for you.

Sometimes these opportunities lead you to a role or roles that you just fundamentally don't like.  You may not be particularly interested in what the role entails or even more often, the role requirements don't match your core strengths or energies very well.  

Worse yet, sometimes people end up in these situations because well meaning bosses or mentors tell them that they need to get experience or expertise in some area or another and that area feels like a prison cell without a door.  If you are regularly asking yourself how much longer this growth opportunity is going to take, you may be on an accidental career path.

More often than not, people have just not had the opportunity or taken the time to understand who they are and what they are passionate about doing (or if they have had the opportunity, nothing concrete came from it) and as a result they took a "job oriented" program in college or university...and now they are a lawyer or a teacher or an engineer and they don't know why.

I help people better understand what they truly value and want in their careers and then support them in heading in more of a planned and intentional direction.  We spend way too much of our lives working, not to enjoy it and feel a sense of satisfaction with the difference we are making.

Another key area of concern or challenge for employees is working for someone who doesn't quite "get" us.  Often this manifests as an expectation that we be "more like they are" so that we can be successful!  This can cause a significant amount of "internal stress" since we are in essence being told to be someone we are not.  This can feel like rejection, inadequacy and even pending failure.  Not a good time!

Sometimes, our bosses may be well intentioned, but they are unskilled and thus their approach tends to demean, deflate or cause us to feel a sense of disengagement.  Quite often, I hear clients say that their boss is "really smart"...but...and it is a big but,...they don't handle people issues particularly well. 

Sometimes, bosses may just be Missing In Action (MIA) or choosing to focus on more tactical/practical work than leading and inspiring their staff.  I have actually had people tell me that "they had a good boss because they never see him".  This can be "fine" until a promotion comes along or a new project is raised, and your boss has no idea who you are, what you are interested in and how you might fit into that new opportunity.  I know you can do better than an absentee boss, even though being left alone may seem okay at the time.

And now I have to state the obvious.  Sometimes you just end up working for a jerk. And often one of the key elements of being a jerk boss, is that they can make you feel vulnerable and thus incapable of acting in your self interest. This can manifest as "gas lighting" or even pure emotional harassment.  I implore you, don't be a victim to these people.  There is no success to be realised in remaining in a poisonous or toxic environment, particularly if that environment is created and sustained by the jerk you work for.  Please contact me and let me help you. 

In any and all of these cases, working with a coach can provide some real insight and practical approaches to putting you back in the driver's seat and moving forward with your career (and your life!).

Another common complaint among my clients is that their organizations don't value employee development in a meaningful way, so when you approach your organization about getting additional education, experience or exposure, often the response is lackluster to say the least.  

This can be very frustrating, especially for someone who truly values personal growth and professional development.  It might be time to take things into your own hands...Let's chat.

Please understand that careers are not like on-off switches.  There is usually a mixture of some good with some not so good.  This is important because no one should promise you the "perfect job" where you only have to do what you want to do, the way you want to do it, with people you want to do it with, on your own time, pace, quality and so on, while getting paid a bazillion dollars and having every Friday off.

What is far more likely is that you do enjoy parts of your job and yet other parts you find very draining.  So what is a reasonable and/or realistic expectation?

According to Lynn Taylor who has studied this stuff for over 20 years, if you are spending more that 30% of your time at work, doing tasks and activities that you find draining, one of three things will eventually happen:

1 - You will quit

2 - You will be fired

3 - You will change the job to better match what you enjoy and involve less of that which drains you.

So, my invitation is for you to take some records of how your days are.  Get a sense for how many working days in a given month, you are spending more than 30% of your time doing work you find either draining, boring or uninspiring.  If that is the majority of the days in that month - why don't we have a chat and find out what might make your situation better...for you...and for the organization you are supporting?

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