Finding A New Job By Finding Yourself

The Client

A highly successful corporate executive seeking to transition to a new organization.

The Problem

This client knew that she wanted to do something different and make a significant change in her professional world. She was both hesitant to make a change and unsure of what she really wanted to do. Recognizing that a sudden move or misstep could lead to bigger problems down the line, she reached out to me to help her identify her true professional goals and build a plan with specific action steps to begin a career transition.

My Challenge

The leader chose me specifically because of my expertise in talent management, change management and career transitions. In a high profile position with lots of responsibility, we needed to explore very thoughtfully and intentionally all aspects of her current situation and her values and drivers for making a change. I advise anyone that thinks they want to do something different to take the time to really reflect on why. Often, all that’s needed is to change the way you think about something or change something much smaller than a full scale overhaul of everything.

My Role

During my six months with the client, I functioned as a strategic thought partner and coach. The first thing we did was an immersion where we spent a couple of days together. This was an impactful way to quickly go deep and give her the space and time to reflect and bring clarity to her specific desires. Through a series of activities and exercises, listening, observing and asking lots of questions, together, we created a framework that would be our guide for her. By virtue of my being an objective confidante that is not in her story, we could focus entirely on her. I’m not family, a work colleague, her partner or even a mentor. All of these important parts of her support network are in her story and impacted by decisions she makes. I am for her story of success but don’t have any agenda other than helping her achieve more than she thought possible.

What We Did

Once I’d spent an appropriate amount of time assessing the situation, I had several concrete recommendations of focus for my client.

Clarify Values

It had been a long time since my client had stopped to reflect on what was truly important to her. We spent a lot of our earlier time together getting really clear on what motivated and inspired her. What were the “must haves” that we needed to ensure were included.

Invest In Mind/Body/Spirit

Despite the increase in attention on the importance of investing in these areas, it is very common to see busy executives with little to no focus on the care and feeding of the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of their lives. This shows up in the workplace in various ways. We prioritized a number of things in these areas to restore a sense of personal balance in my client’s life.

Develop Executive Presence

My client wanted to feel more confident in high pressure situations. She also wanted to be known as an inspirational leader and an excellent speaker. We worked through a number of exercises to develop her presence and speaking skills.

Increase Network

To enhance her personal brand and be more visible in her industry, we created a specific strategy to increase her network and speaking opportunities.

The Result

Since my time with the client, her vision for herself and her career has proceeded right on schedule. She has transitioned from her previous role and is now a successful leader in a top job in her industry with more visibility and responsibility. More importantly, she is both reenergized and excelling in a culture that is more aligned with her values. All of the hard work we did both professionally and personally allowed my client to discover what she really wants, find her worth and actualize her dreams.