Have you, at some point, considered a career change?
Or maybe you've helped someone else navigate one; someone on your staff, a mentee or a friend?
With reduce employee tenure and increased cross-functional skills, career changes have become a more frequent trend in the modern workforce. This comes up in my coaching work as well when I meet a leader who is exploring a career change but isn't sure exactly what it is they want to do.
It's also useful for managers to be able to provide guidance on this. If we're prioritizing employee growth and development, it's inevitable that someone on your staff will be looking to make a shift.
Some managers make the mistake of avoiding these conversations, as it means losing someone on their team and all the work that is associated with that. But strong leaders know that supporting the growth of their team, even if it means that they will move on to other things, is a way to attract more talent. These are the leaders people want to work for.
The three-part framework we'll discuss today is a simple way of helping individuals who want a career change but are unsure what it is they want to work toward.
With that said, this is not a magic bullet to find your true calling. Rather, it's a tool to help get you in the right general direction if you're not already sure what you want to do. After this exercise you might have more than one option to explore further. That's a great problem to have.
Here is what that familiar framework looks like with a little nuance added in
Passion
What are you passionate about? This should include your top personal values; however, it's not limited to those. You will naturally be more engaged towards the activities which you are passionate about. This engagement means you get better at them over time which also makes them more enjoyable. This is the intrinsic motivation cycle at work.
The old notion of "follow your passion" is relevant not because passions stand on their own, but because they tend to overlap with competencies.
On the flip side of that coin, if you have the skills and the opportunity but lack the passion, the work can feel like a chore. This will lead to burnout or general dissatisfaction.
Skills
Next, consider what you are good at. What skills or strengths make you unique or give you a competitive advantage.
Focusing only on technical skills is a mistake I've seen people make, and it's often what discourages them from considering a career change in the first place.
Soft skills are incredibly valuable, especially in career changes and they should absolutely be included on your list.
I've had this very conversation with some of my coaching clients. They'll get caught up in the fact that they've only ever managed in one or two industries. Through our work, I help them understand that management is its own profession which can be successfully applied to other industries.
Passion and demand (opportunity) without skill turns into a goal. It might make sense to pursue but is going to require training, development, education or more experience to achieve.
Opportunity
Finally, what does the world need from you? That feels like a big question but we're just trying to figure out whether there is a demand for what you can offer. You can look at this at several levels. What does your company need from you? What does the marketplace demand? What can you offer that society in general has an active need or desire for? This opportunity needs to be strong enough that someone will compensate you for it.
This is the most complicated area to consider. On one hand, there are more types of jobs today than ever. Many occupations available today didn't even exist decades ago.
On the other hand, you have to consider not just whether there is a demand, but enough demand for you to fill. For instance, some professions skew in such a way that only a small top percentage of people can make a living doing it. This is where you have to determine whether your passion and skill meet the demand.
It's also an area where you may have to ask yourself whether you can accept a reduction in pay to pursue something you truly want.
Passion and skill without this demand is a hobby. Take hiking. I absolutely love to hike and am fairly good at it but not so good that anyone is going to pay me a livable wage to do it.
This Week's Action Items:
Schedule a block of focused time to walk through this exercise.
Start by listing your values and things you are passionate about.
Next, list your strengths. Both technical skills and soft skills apply here.
Review those two lists to identify where they intersect.
Finally, take those intersection points and figure out where in the market there might be a demand you can fill. If you come up blank, it's worth re-evaluating your lists to see if there are things you can expand on.
