Career coach: What to ask yourself when considering a change

I’m delighted this week to bring you the wisdom of career and leadership coach Phoebe Gavin. And special for subscribers: she has agreed to respond to your career questions! Reply or comment to submit your questions, and up to 5 will be selected for Gavin to answer in a future newsletter.

Gavin has over a decade of media experience with a long time practice of coaching, mentorship, and sponsorship in the newsrooms she’s supported. She has helped hundreds of professionals achieve their career goals and drive better business results in her coaching practice, which she formalized in 2019. She’s the author of The Workplace Guide to Time Management: Best Practices to Maximize Productivity.

This Thursday: Gavin is holding a free workshop on “how to reframe and calm interview anxiety so you can take your power back and act from a place of intention before, during, and after your interview.” More info at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cracking-the-confidence-code-how-job-interview-champions-overcome-anxiety-tickets-739190417437?aff=oddtdtcreator

Learn more at www.betterwithphoebe.com. Responses below have been edited for length and clarity.

The "career river" concept is one that aims to embrace learning in one's work life through changes in direction, as opposed to "career ladder" expectations for linear professional progress.

How have you seen expectations from the career ladder idea come up in your career coaching practice, and how do you address those expectations with your clients?

In her coaching practice, Gavin often encounters people who struggle with the idea that their career isn’t moving in a linear direction, or as quickly or smoothly as they would like. The social expectations that you will continue to climb the career ladder you selected as a “know-nothing 14-year-old” are not realistic.

“That kind of social conditioning can really set people up to think that they have fallen short in some way. … They feel lost or that they malfunctioned in some way now that they are interested in potentially exploring a new chapter that looks very different than the ones that came before.”

The career river idea is a great way to think about this process differently, she said, adding it does have some limitations. It suggests a one-directional journey where the water, or career path, is pushing you along.

Instead, Gavin often invites her clients to consider how you are currently moving through your career by considering the type of vessel you’re in:

• A speedboat, where you have the resources, skills and opportunity to get where you would like to go professionally very quickly, with agility;
• A canoe, doing everything by yourself and completely moving on your own power;
• A sailboat, where you are able to move fairly well if the winds are in your favor, but if there is no wind or if the winds are working against you, it's very easy for you to get stuck;
• A cruise liner, where you move really slowly but have a great time.

“It’s also OK to just hang out on the shore for a little bit. I definitely have some folks who have really strived in their careers and… achieve lots of things but also at great cost, and have found that the thing that they need in the next chapter of their career is rest,” she said. “It's OK to take an ‘easy job’ that will allow you to rest for a bit and regenerate your energy and your excitement and buy yourself some time to figure out what you want to do next.”

When someone is considering a major career change, what are the top questions they should ask themselves about making a switch?

There are two important frameworks for people considering a career change, Gavin said: the first is running away vs. running toward. Her clients often initiate a career change in response to a negative situation, whether that’s a toxic work environment, an unfulfilling job or a significant life change.

“It's totally natural to want to escape that discomfort. But if you're making decisions from a running away mindset, it's really risky. If you are running away from something, you're not looking where you're going, and if we translate that into physicality, then you can hurt yourself. You can trip, you can fall, you can not really realize the pitfalls that are ahead of you because you're not looking for them.”

Instead, when you have a destination in mind you can see some of the challenges or potential risks ahead, she said.

“Running toward doesn't mean throwing all of your previous experiences out the window. You still have those things in the back of your mind, you still know what you're traveling away from, but your focus is what's in front of you so that you can make smarter, more thoughtful decisions that are less likely to backfire, and that are more likely to land you where you actually want to be.”

The second framework she asks clients about centers on how you are processing the problem, whether you prefer thinking or talking things through. There are drawbacks to both, because thinking or talking without action can only take you so far.

Instead, she recommends tangible processing, which makes it easier to evaluate your thought process by writing it down.

“It's not just thinking about something, it's not just talking about something, but it's taking those thoughts and recording them on paper, whether that's analog or digital,” she said. “You're starting to collect research, you're starting to collect ideas, and it makes it a lot easier for you to turn those concepts into criteria or options or an action plan and that puts you in a much better position to take action that's going to benefit you.”

Next week: Gavin addresses how to navigate bias and avoid burnout. Remember to submit your questions for her on pursuing a fulfilling career!

Happy navigating,
Bridget

📖 Reads this week:

• How Black women are dismantling the 'ambition trap' (Stylist magazine) - I’m a big fan of the woman who defines success as “living by the sea and being able to walk on the beach every day.”
• It’s Time to Rethink Traditional Career Trajectories (Harvard Business Review)
• Navigating grief in higher ed career transitions (Inside Higher Ed)