Taking charge of your career management : Be your own ‘Career Manager’ 

 

Some of the following statements may apply to you:

  • My organisation has recently been through significant change. I am keen to adapt swiftly to the new situation. Can you enable me to identify ways of demonstrating my strengths to respond to the demands of the new structure?
  • My job is ok, but I find certain relationships at work challenging.  Can you enable me to improve the quality of those relationships?
  • I am not a good networker. I can’t really be bothered with it. Yet I know it’s important to ‘get on’.  Can you coach me to find ways to be better at reaching out to people?
  • I don’t have any clear career goals. So, when I am asked about my development, I am at a loss. Can you assist me to think more clearly about what I want for my future?
  • I am over-worked and stretched to the limit of my personal resources. I tend to take on too much, and I’d like to develop ways to stop this. Can you support me to do this?
  • I don’t like change. So I tend to avoid it, which means I miss out on new opportunities. Can you coach me to find ways to more effectively manage change?
  • My work-life balance is out of kilter. I have less and less time for the things I enjoy out of work. Can the Balance™ programme help me generate red lines, so I will have a more healthy work-life balance?
  • I find that my own career goals are not in line with those my employer would like me to have.  Can the coaching enable me to find ways of meeting both our aspirations?

We have developed a powerful coaching questionnaire and toolkit Balance™, based on research and our own experience of coaching thousands of individuals.

This career management programme focuses on equipping you to take control of your career and to implement ways of balancing your own needs with those of your employer.

We have found that some people place excessive emphasis on themselves when managing their careers. They focus too much on their own needs and insufficiently on those of their employer. This may mean they don’t focus enough on the direction their industry, employer or even department are heading.

On the other hand, there are people who overly focus on their employer’s needs at the expense of their own. They tend to concentrate on their day-to-day job, possibly over-working, and similarly lose perspective on employer direction, and how their own work fits the bigger picture.

While ‘Balance’ may not always be possible, it is important to know the areas which have been either neglected or over used.

The Balance™ diagnostic questionnaire acts as the foundation for individuals to gain valuable personal insight and effective strategies for career management across six key areas:

  • Building relationships
    developing networks and networking skills; managing difficult relationships; handling new relationships effectively in a more senior role
  • Learning and development
    setting learning and development goals; addressing blocks to learning
  • Career development strategy
    taking a strategic and proactive approach to career management
  • Use of personal energy
    managing work-related stresses, time management, using your strengths effectively
  • Openness to change
    developing effective ways of handling personal and organisational change
  • Work-life balance
    identifying ‘red lines’ and what constitutes a satisfying work-life balance

We work with you to identify and implement areas for action through virtual coaching sessions. The programme consists of the following steps:

Introductory discussion

An introductory discussion talks you through the background to Balance™ so that you are best prepared to get the most from the coaching.

Completion of Balance™ questionnaire

This questionnaire asks detailed questions about career management behaviours. It is not a test, but a questionnaire to provide a clear focus on the goals to achieve from the BYOCM programme. The questionnaire is completed online.

Coaching Session 1

  • Discussion of your current situation in some detail
  • Debrief the results of  the Balance™ questionnaire
  • Agreement of career management development areas to work on
  • Briefing for using one or more tools from the Balance™ toolkit.

Coaching Session 2

  • Review of tools and actions taken
  • Reinforcing further actions and positive results
  • Agreeing ways of maintaining momentum.

NB: Further sessions may be arranged as needed

Services for Individuals