Preparation

Careful preparation is the key to a successful career move. Why do women need this more than men? Because they need the security of knowing they have done their homework. Women tend to feel less able to wing a situation than men. We can ask questions that help the client to be aware of the planning she wants to do and encourage her to carry this out meticulously with strong action plans. In addition, we can do a guided visualisation to uncover any hidden issues that need to be worked on. This is easy if the client has already been to the location of the new job, and has perhaps also met the new team, but is still possible if this is not the case. The client’s imagination will do the trick; allow her to imagine the setting and the people. Once she has started the new job it will be useful to do the guided meditation again and see if any new issues have come up. The guided visualisation is a powerful way of bringing questions to the surface which can then be explored.

Networking

Networking is a given in preparing for a career transition and will be important at every stage. We can ask the client to map her network as she sees it in the context of her proposed career move. Women are aware of the value of networking, so this should be easy. The coach’s task is to challenge the client to populate her network map with more contacts, perhaps with people whom she does not know yet know, but who it would be beneficial for her to know. How can she reach them? Does it need to be a cold call or can she find a mutual contact or another way to meet that person, e.g. at a networking event or a conference. Women will be more open to finding a way to use personal contacts. Networking is such a valuable activity that the career coach should encourage the client to do this mapping several times: when she is thinking of the career move, when she has several options, and when she has narrowed those options down to concrete opportunities. It is useful to ask the same question often: “Who would it be helpful to talk to?”

Self-confidence

We know that women generally suffer more than men from a lack of self-confidence, and this will definitely come into play during a career transition. The coach will sensitively use tools such as affirmation work to allow the client to accept her competence and ability to succeed. Reinforcing techniques are also helpful together with acknowledgment and recognition of small successes. There is nothing to compare with the feeling of satisfaction that you can share with a client when she overcomes her doubts and does it anyway, and it is important to celebrate her successes with the client.

Communication

Communication is important at all stages of a career transition, and here the coach can work with the client to map the key stakeholders to whom she must communicate her strengths, her successes, and her ideas. You can encourage the client to write a script in preparation for a specific encounter. It is also useful to work with the client to identify in a more general way what she feels it would be important for the new manager and team to know about her. Ask the client to decide whether verbal communication is sufficient, or whether some things need to be in writing. This has become more urgent since the pandemic as hybrid working arrangements may hinder good communication. Perhaps it isn’t so easy to let one’s views be known and there is a risk of something important not getting through to the manager or the team.

The story of a client of mine demonstrates this. She had taken on a new job in a new city, but not where her family (partner and child) were living. She had accepted the job offer on the assumption she would be allowed to work largely from home, as had been the case during the pandemic, travelling to the office location in another country only occasionally for meetings. She was dedicated and fully engaged, delivering good results, working with no problems with the team and with stakeholders. The sticking point was the manager who wanted her in the office. There seemed to have been a complete communication gap – my client was adamant she had made it clear she wanted to tele-work most of the time, but the manager maintained she had not been aware of this. Through coaching my client accepted at least partially responsibility for the breakdown in communication and we worked hard at finding a solution.

Once the client is in the new job, constellation work can be extremely useful. The coach can ask the client to map not only her immediate team, but all the interlining systems, including her personal contacts, family, friends, etc. It is always a revelation for the client to recognise links that exist – or that should exist, and the work needed. As the new girl on the block, she is the one who must do that work.

These four areas; preparation, networking, self-confidence, and communication are key areas where a coach can make a difference to a career transition and make it that bit easier.

Career and Leadership Coach Susan Doering is passionate to help clients solve challenges and achieve their goals, by guiding, empowering and enabling them to work at their best.

Susan is also the author of : Smart Career Moves for Smart Women. How to Succeed in Career Transitions

Read more blogs from Susan – Should we career coach women and men differently

The post 4 Focus Areas when Coaching Women for Career Transitions appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

How many of us at some time or another, ever feel “stuck” working in the wrong job and/or at the wrong company?  Surveys repeatedly show that more than half of all workers do feel they are either in the wrong job or company. Often people never do anything more than complain about it. Often they fail to think about what they really like to do or what are their talents and are they being used? What do they really dislike? How do they work best? What are their patterns of success – are they motivated to work on complex projects where there are challenging goals and instead find themselves doing routine work, in a job that can suck the life out of them? We can get used to the gradually warming waters in the saucepan and a sense of numbness.  We can get comfortable for all sorts of reasons – maybe the job is close to home or we like the people we work with. So, how often do you do a self-assessment of your needs, values and work performance; an MOT like a car?  

We often forget to give our career direction as much attention as we give to all the business projects we work on. Even though our lives seem to be in constant motion, very little of that motion actually moves us forward in our career.  So what are the things we can do to keep making real progress and seize career opportunities?

1. Build and keep a strong network of contacts inside and outside your company. Many people tell me that they don’t have the time to do this. But most networking events are full of people who have busy schedules. They make a choice. Your network can help in many ways, such as sharing ideas, hearing best practices or identifying job opportunities. If we only talk with the same people week after week, the advice and challenge we receive is limited. Networking can expand your knowledge base and resources.
2. Keep Developing.  There are lots of free e-learning resources or workshops or monthly association meetings (often free) to keep abreast of trends affecting your job or industry or to develop new skills. This new knowledge and insight may help you get that next promotion or be the reason why another organization offers you a better opportunity. Think about these 2 questions – What new skills have you developed in the last six months?  What have you done to expand the scope of your job duties?
3. “We are what we think” – Buddha. This can get us into trouble. I read that the average mind has about 60,000 thoughts a day and most of us believe about 99 percent of what we think. We cling to beliefs that may no longer serve us. Being told at the age of 13 that I couldn’t paint meant that it was another 25 years before I picked up a paintbrush. I recently exhibited a painting and finally shook off this belief! What a waste of time? What thoughts are holding you and your career back?
4. Self-promotion. You may be a star, but who knows about your talents and achievements?  A key part of managing your career is letting people know what you have done by marketing your talents and achievements.  So, how effectively does your CV tell your story? What would you say if you only had two minutes to convince someone to select you for an important assignment or job?

You own your own career direction. Before you accept your next job offer ask yourself “what impact will this position have on my long term goals? Will it strengthen my marketability or weaken it?”

Frank the frog is a story – but it is a story with a warning; it reminds us of the consequences if we fail to react or be aware of threats that arise gradually to our career, our self-esteem and our talents.  

Lastly, think about it: what would your life be like if you got paid to do what you do best and really enjoyed?! If you are already there, I would love to hear your story and your patterns of success.

Claire Dickson is a qualified Executive and Leadership Coach, who helps leaders reboot their leadership, performance and career approach.

Read more blogs from Claire: Playing Politics Authentically: The Paradox

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