There is something special about the start of a new year (whether it’s calendar, financial or academic) to cause us to reflect. A chance to pause, take stock, and think about what opportunities a fresh calendar can bring.
If you’re wondering whether a new role, or even a whole new career, could be on the cards for you, this blog leads you through a couple of practical exercises to help you to reflect on what’s important to you, and how your strengths might unlock your next steps.
What’s important to you?
Before we think about new opportunities, it’s important to take stock of what’s important to you. What motivates you, energises you, inspires you? This can often change as we progress through our careers. There will be times in our lives when rewards are particularly important to us – things like training, promotion opportunities, salaries and bonuses. At other times when we’ll value flexibility and work-life balance more. Perhaps the values and mission of an organisation are critical, or maybe you enjoy your job most when you’re working with a dream team around you.
Write a list of all the things that are important to you, and you would wish to have in any role. Here’s a few ideas to get you started, but remember this is your list!
Autonomy, friendships, personal growth, professional growth, status, responsibility, salary, growth opportunities, work-life balance, alignment with values, family-friendly policies, supportive line manager...
Score each area out of 10 in terms of how important it is to you, where 1 is not important at all, and 10 is an absolute dealbreaker.
Now, reflect on your current (or most recent) role. How does each area meet, exceed, or fall short of your needs? For the areas that fall short, what small thing could change to improve the score by 1-2 points?
What’s important to me? | How important is it (1-10)? | Does my current role fall short, meet, or exceed my needs? | What could change to improve by 1-2 points? |
Opportunities for professional growth | 8 | Falls short | Chat to my boss about upcoming opportunities |
Friendships at work | 7 | Falls short | Make time for coffee with my team. Arrange a chat with someone outside of my team to broaden my network. |
Overall, to what extent does your current role align with what’s important to you? What patterns do you notice? What is this telling you? Make a note of your reflections.
How about strengths?
Our strengths are the sweet spot where what we’re good at overlaps with what energises us. For example, I’m pretty good with an Excel spreadsheet, pivoting and v-lookup-ing, but I find it requires a disproportionate amount of concentration from me, and I don’t miss it when I don’t have to use it! On the other hand, I love singing. In my head, I sound like Paloma Faith or Kirsty McColl. Those around me will tell me – with a breath of kindness – I sound more like an alarmed goose.
I do have strengths, though. I’m good at building relationships and making people feel heard and understood. I enjoy developing other people, helping them to tap into their undiscovered potential. I’m a good cook, and I never get bored of researching recipes, shopping for ingredients and preparing meals. I draw the line at washing up, though!
What are my strengths?
To discover your own strengths, first visualise yourself doing something where you’re totally in “flow” – time flies, you feel neither bored nor stressed, you’re using your skills and you’re enjoying yourself. What are you doing?
You can do this exercise several times if you find yourself in flow in different scenarios. Make a note of the skills you’re using. Think about how you spend your days at work (and not just the stuff in your job description), as well as any hobbies, volunteer work, or other activities.
Are you cool in a crisis? Able to spot patterns in a sea of information? Perhaps you’re the office cheerleader, raising morale when people need a boost.
Next, write two lists – one of the things you’re good at, and one of the things that energise you and bring you joy. Where are there overlaps? Don’t forget to include feedback from others in the mix – raid your appraisals, customer feedback, and 360 reports to remind you of strengths that you have which you take for granted.
Now, think about how many of these strengths you use in your current role. How often do you get chance to use them? What patterns do you notice? What is this telling you?
By now, you should have an idea of what’s important to you at work, and where your strengths lie. For some people, these reflective activities can help them to realise that it’s not their job or profession that’s the problem, it’s the current circumstances. Perhaps it’s not a wholesale career change that’s needed, but perhaps a different organisation or sector.
For others, it’s a signal that a bigger change is needed. If you’d like to explore this further, do drop me a line for no obligation chat.
Comments