All change? A round up from leading writers about how to reinvent, redesign or generally take a fresh look at your post-Covid career
Journalists and commentators have loudly suggested that the Covid pandemic has ushered in ‘unprecedented time.’ There can be little doubt that over the last six months we have experienced severe disruption to how we live and work. At different times we have been instructed, advised, cajoled, warned and guided towards new habits and behaviours to outwit the virus.
But stepping back a little, might this also be a moment to take stock of your career, evaluate what has been working well for you and what you might change? Could this in fact be the perfect moment to re-design your working life to better suit your needs, harness your talents and purpose, and take up new opportunities to provide services in more innovative ways?
In this round-up from leading writers in the fields of career, life design and change, I offer some inspiring content for those of you who are taking this opportunity to think bigger, bolder - and with a wider imagination.
Herminia Ibarra: Reinventing your career in the time of coronavirus
Herminia Ibarra is the Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behaviour at London Business School and best-selling author of: Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader and Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career.
In this article, she demonstrates how reinventing your career during Coronavirus can include:
exploring possible selves
embracing the messy ‘liminal period’ between an unclear future and an uncertain present
testing projects
and strengthening less developed targeted relationships among your wider connections
Her parting shot is this:
‘when it comes to reinventing your career in this time of crisis, remember this important point: The time to get going is now — but don’t go it alone.’
Her approach to reinventing career chimes so well with my own that I was hugely excited to read this article and discover more about Herminia’s approach. I hope you find her ideas equally exciting and that you’ll be inspired to take your first steps towards a better future using some of these ideas.
Bill Burnett & Dave Evans: authors of Designing Your Work Life and Designing Your Life
Find out more here
During the pandemic, these design-thinking Stanford professors have brought their innovative approaches to life and work design to a series of videos – Design Your Covid Life. They cover design-thinking topics that can be applied to these disruptive times, including:
· Generative acceptance
· Refreshing your life design
· Building your life design team
· Prototyping your way forward
· Set the bar low and clear it often
· And the idea of a generative reframe
When we’re faced with unfamiliar territory (as we all are at present), design-thinking really has something to offer. With its focus on new mindsets, reframes, learning and pivoting as you go, it’s possible to build a more inspiring way forward, however tightly locked down you may feel.
Over the years, I’ve incorporated some of their work and life design thinking into my own career change coaching programmes, both in helping clients ‘see’ obstacles differently (reframes) or in creating a more coherent career and life story that lines up values and beliefs with the work you do.
By prototyping new career possibilities, career changers can test their idea in the real world, not just on paper. These approaches are all part of my Quickstep Career Change Programme, which is available as a self-study course or as a 1:1 coaching programme.
Ren Behan – is a British lawyer, food journalist and author of Wild Honey and Rye.
In her article How to plan a career change after Covid she talks about her extended maternity break from law, the new creative and business pursuits that absorbed her while on her ‘career break’, and how (and why) she made a conscious return to a legal career.
With three children to consider and a hard-won book deal under her belt, what drove her to negotiate this particular route back into the legal world?
As a returning lawyer, she is currently part of a female-dominant family law team in the UK and an advocate for flexible working. There’s plenty of food for thought in Ren’s story – could her approach work for you?
How to plan a career change after Covid.
Women Returners
Have you heard of Returnships?
When I ran my first course for women returning to work after a career break way back in the early 80s, I was in uncharted territory. There was very little support available for this client group, so I created my own solution to a problem I was facing as a new mum with professional and creative aspirations.
Today, ‘returnships’ are a recognized pathway offered by many organisations across the UK and beyond. While on a career break, it’s all too easy to lose confidence and feel increasingly out of touch with the latest developments in your field. These programmes understand your value and want to nurture your return – and not always in exactly the same role as before you stepped away.
Women Returners has done a huge amount to enable the return to work of highly-qualified professional women (and men) after an extended career break.
In this article they explore how the pandemic has impacted the returnship experience and how these programmes are still very much alive and kicking.
From the Freestyle Careers Blog
If the wonderful writers above have whetted your appetite, I offer a few more career change starting points from my own blog:
Vital questions to ask yourself about what you really need from your working life in order to feel fulfilled, purposeful and that your talents and expertise are being well used: Reset your career during Covid.
2. In so many ways, we were unprepared for lockdown. But what if this experience is actually the beginning of something better? What can you take from your own lockdown experience to build a future that’s more ‘you’?
What lockdown has taught you about your 'next normal.'
3. Sometimes we discover what we prize most highly when it’s snatched away from us. So which of your values has been bruised during the pandemic? Discover how you can gain vital values clarity and then use this insight to design a working life that aligns more clearly with what matters most to you.
As Herminia Ibarra said: ‘don’t go it alone!’
Career change is by its very nature a messy process. It can be daunting, confusing and unpredictable. When you have a systematic process to follow and a supporter illuminating your steps, it’s easier to magnify your WHY and achieve a more energizing work life.
If you’d like to discuss a career change and get super clear about your main obstacles and ways you can sail right through them, just hit the yellow button below to set up a free 30-minute career call.