career planning

From Parish Priest to Business Consultancy and Entrepreneur

December 16, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

This case study, Keith, was a client of Peter Wilford. He helped his client, a parish priest to create a portfolio career.

What was the situation?

Keith had become unfulfilled in his career in the church and wanted to move into the commercial world, but still keep his work as a priest.

But he had no idea where or what.

Keith’s confidence was low.

He didn’t know how to market himself as he had never had to do it before.

Keith had a good network of church contacts, but few links outside of the church.

However he had strong entrepreneurial flair and a persuasive nature.

How I helped

I helped him to get clear about what he had to offer outside the church.
I supported him to broaden his networks beyond the church.
I helped him to define his S.M.A.R.T. career goal and plan and how to make it happen.
I helped him to see what he had to offer, what made him unique and how to market himself confidently and comfortably.
I helped him to understand the world of business, having been in it myself for many years

What was the result?

After working with Keith for two months with 121 career coaching, he had set up a portfolio career including a freelance consultancy business specialising in the voluntary sector and the church.

He won clients including national charities and community projects in South London.

That was in the late 1990’s.

And now?

Keith is now a Consultant in an international firm helping organisations, teams and individuals to identify and achieve their goals. He is still an ordained priest.

Footnote from Rachel Brushfield, ‘The Talent Liberator’

What a wonderful contrasting eclectic and ecclesiastical portfolio career!

Keith’s career transition reminds me of Charles Handy, a man who inspired me to set up my own business Energise over 24 years ago.

Read more about Charles Handy: This article “The paradox of Charles Handy – Vicar and visionary, modern management’s most eminent philosopher says it takes a village to build a company.”

https://www.strategy-business.com/article/03309?gko=4d780

Book: “The Age of unreason” by Charles Handy https://www.amazon.co.uk/Age-Unreason-New-Thinking-World/dp/0099548313

Book: “The empty raincoat” by Charles Handy. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Empty-Raincoat-Making-Sense-Future/dp/0099301253

More

Interested in exploring a portfolio career for yourself?

Get in touch to arrange your free 20 minute consultation to discuss what would be useful for you.

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/contact-us/

How does career coaching work? https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/how-does-career-coaching-work/

Start a portfolio career – tips https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/start-a-portfolio-career-tips/

Pros and cons of a portfolio career https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/pros-and-cons-of-a-portfolio-career/

How important is career fulfilment at work?

December 9, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

2020 has been a strange year.

Covid-19 has made it so.

Lockdown has given many people more time to think than usual as well as a different way of working.

No commuting.

No face to face meetings.

Working from home.

More time to think about their career and whether it is giving them what they really want.

Whether they have career fulfilment and a decent work life balance usually.

Many people have been thinking about whether they want to go back to the old ‘normal’.

Do you?

Lots of articles in the media about ‘hybrid’ working – a combination of working from home and going to the office.

So how important is career fulfilment at work?

Below are some self-reflective questions for you to ponder.

Not all people have enjoyed a good work life balance during 2020.

Working mums home schooling have had a tough time juggling everything.

Poor career fulfilment is a common catalyst for people to seek a career change.

Ask yourself these questions to reflect upon your own career fulfillment.

7 questions – purposeful reflection about your career fulfilment.

How fulfilled am I at work at the current time?
How can I increase my own career fulfillment?
What most motivates me at work?
What most demotivates me at work?
What have been my most fulfilling career highlights to date and how can I replicate them?
What or who is most causing my dissatisfaction at work?
What, in my view, is the number 1 factor causing disengagement in my employer?

Are you at a career crossroads?

Why not:

a) Put an Energise career coaching gift voucher on your Christmas ‘wish list’?

b) Get in touch to arrange your confidential no obligation 20 minute meeting: https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/contact-us/

What is career agility?

December 2, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

This image is one of our career coaching clients, Olivia Streater, who has a portfolio career.

http://linkedin.com/in/oliviastreaterlavizzari

What does agility mean?

The dictionary definition of agility is:

“the ability to move quickly and easily”
“the ability to think and understand quickly”
“the skills of pivoting quickly”

Until I looked up the definition of agility, I had always associated the word just with the physical, not the brain and thinking.

Impact of Covid-19 on accelerating change

Covid-19 and its impact on businesses has been a great example of agility at work!

Things that would have taken a long time to change, possibly 100 years, have happened in a matter of just months through necessity.

Pain is often a catalyst for rapid change.

“It is not the most intelligent of the species that is the most likely to survive, it is the ones most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin.

We have all been thrown ‘in the deep end’ at work by Covid-19!!

We have had to adapt very quickly to on-line meetings on Zoom and Team, on-line webinars instead of face to face and much more!

Working parents have been forced to combine work and home-schooling. Something I have huge admiration for.

Covid-19 has forced people to be agile.

This is one of the positive aspects of Covid-19.

Times are changing. At last.

Working from home has opened up many people’s eyes to how things could be different.

How career agile are you?

Career agility is a form of intelligence. It is also a skill that can be learnt.

A very apt quote for our times is: “When the winds of change blow, some people build windmills, others walls.” Chinese proverb.

Lockdown = time to think

Lockdown in 2020 has given many people unexpected time to really think.

About what they want.

Are you ready to make a change?

Get in touch to arrange your free no-obligation meeting. https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/contact-us/

More

4 reasons career agility is a must and how to get there:

https://www.womenonbusiness.com/4-reasons-career-agility-is-a-must-and-how-to-get-there/

What is your career agility quotient?https://www.atalent.com/define-improve-career-agility/

How to create career agility post-Covid: What it takes to be most competitive. Forbes article May 2020.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sheilacallaham/2020/05/03/how-to-create-career-agility-post-covid-what-it-takes-to-be-most-competitive/?sh=62fc187b7c13

How to future-proof your career

June 18, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

The Brexit/political impasse and more recently the impact of the coronavirus has been very stressful for many people

With redundancies now likely to be on the horizon, and many companies currently having recruitment freezes, it can feel very challenging indeed to get a job/paid work.

Even in these challenging market conditions, a sense of moving forward and progressing is vital.

So how can you take steps today to future-proof your career for the longer term?

This blog shares some practical tips and further reading to inspire and help you.

V.U.C.A. world
The current world is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, or V.U.C.A. This is the new ‘normal’.

Focus on how you can help senior management and businesses with the challenges they face, for example business agility and transformation, creating a competitive advantage, original communication etc.

The competencies of control, curiosity, commitment, confidence and concern are important to be adaptable in your career.

5 career adaptability competencies

Control – being proactive, decisive & taking responsibility for your career;
Curiosity – broadening your horizons by seeking options, possibilities and knowledge;
Commitment – passionately pursuing & taking action to move to the career horizon of your choosing;
Confidence – belief in yourself & that you can achieve your goal;
Concern – having a positive & philosophical attitude to mistakes or rejection.

How would you rate yourself on these competencies?

Here are some tips to future-proof your career.

Build your career adaptability competencies: If you think of the above career adaptability competencies as ‘muscles’, how can you exercise them? What S.M.A.R.T. goals can you set yourself and what CPD can you undertake to build these ‘muscles’? This will put you in good stead now and in the future.

Understand your transferable skills: Skills you possess are useful in many different contexts outside of your current sector. Investigate new work areas where the skills that you already possess are valued.

Look at trends: Keeping an eye on changing trends is very important at all times, and especially when things are changing fast, which they are at the moment. In any shrinking market, there will always be areas that are growing. What specialisms are growing, for example, cyber crime and data analytics? Where are there skill shortages?

Update your skills: There are lots of free on-line courses, called Moocs shared by universities all over the world. Take advantage of these to learn new skills and develop your knowledge. For example critical thinking is a key skill of the future. Change management and commercial awareness are also good areas to develop. What actions could you take to refresh and develop these specific skills?

Build your career capital: With more competition, you need to have a higher level of qualification to succeed, and add value. Consider new accreditation and building a specialism. Investment now can create more opportunities in future. Explore thought leadership and initiate key note/panel opportunities.

Widen your options: It is wise in uncertain times to develop a portfolio career. Rather than having all your career ‘eggs in one basket’, and just have one source of earning money, explore new/different options, and develop multiple strands to future-proof your career. This is called a portfolio career – it is ideal for uncertain times. You develop different work ‘strands’ so you can pivot as markets change and you change. As an analogy, as with ingredients and cooking a recipe, the more ‘ingredients’ you have of skills, knowledge and experience, the more you can create opportunities for yourself.

Become tech savvy: New tech tools can be daunting at first, but learning them satisfying. Being tech savvy is important so that you hit the ground running in work. If there are two candidates of comparable skill and experience, having superior digital acuity will go in your favour.

Broaden your network: In the digital age, it is becoming more important to have a large diverse network. Many networks are providing free Zoom sessions during lockdown – take advantage of this and attend some networks you wouldn’t normally consider to broaden your network. Join some new LinkedIn groups, and connect with the members.

Free resources: Take advantage of any free resources from your professional body. There may be webinars, case studies and other resources you can access on their website.

Do a skill swap: A skill swap costs nothing, and enables you to learn a new skill, for example Excel spreadsheets, social media, cashflow planning etc. When you’re worried about the future, skill swaps are a brilliant way to skill-up.

Consider retraining: Retraining into a work area where there are skills shortages is worth exploring to improve your security and prospects for the longer term.

Build your resilience: Some people are naturally resilient, but it is a skill that can be learnt. Persistence and not giving up are very important. Determination will take you a long way. In fact, according to Charles Handy, a pioneer in modern ways of working, in his book ‘The New Alchemists’, determination is THE no 1 factor for success. Don’t give up!

It can feel like very challenging times at the moment. Remember you are not alone. Keep going.

Contact us to receive a free report ‘Discover Portfolio Careers’ https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

Recommended further reading

Our articles for the award winning Future of Work Hub:

Future skills for a lifelong competitive advantage part 1 https://www.futureofworkhub.info/comment/2019/3/22/future-skills-for-a-life-long-competitive-advantage-part-1

Future skills for a lifelong competitive advantage part 2 https://www.futureofworkhub.info/comment/2019/6/26/future-skills-for-a-life-long-competitive-advantage-part-2

Videos about portfolio careers

October 4, 2019 By // by Rachel Brushfield

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I forget about content I have already created!

These videos about different aspects of portfolio careers are useful quick ways to tune into the topic.

There are 6 short videos to view. Videos are all the rage at the moment.

What is a portfolio career & why are they growing: https://vimeo.com/189923412/17eb9e783b

Who are portfolio careers for: https://vimeo.com/189923414/746b19b9e2

How do you create a portfolio career: https://vimeo.com/189923413/0c70f11f05

How do you evolve a portfolio career: https://vimeo.com/189923417/6b1105ace7

How do you manage a portfolio career: https://vimeo.com/189923419/870aa46833

How do you market a portfolio career: https://vimeo.com/186409954/a92cbbe363

Hope you find them useful.

Interested in a portfolio career for yourself? We help our clients to create, edit and market their portfolio career. Get in touch for a no-obligation chat about how we can help you. https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

What are your career KPIs and do they matter?

December 24, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

Preparing for a recent career event has made me think about career key performance indicators or KPIs; an often cited phrase for measuring performance. Lawyers, for example, are measured in 6 minute units of fee earning time, a key KPI, with published league tables – can you imagine how pressured that must be?!

Definition of KPIs

“A key performance indicator (KPI) is a metric used by business to evaluate factors that are crucial to the success of the business.”

How do you measure career performance specifically? If you are employed, your employer may use very different measures to what is important to you and if this is the case, it may be a good time for a job or career rethink.

If you are self-employed, is it the rate per day, how many days you work a year, enjoyable work, prestigious projects, number of referrals, client testimonials, repeat business, value per transaction/project or number of new clients?

Here is our definition of career KPIs for individuals:

“Career key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics used by an individual to evaluate and measure factors that are crucial to their own perceived career success and progress.”

Types of KPI

• Financial; salary, rate/day, rewards, bonus etc.
• Progress; speed of promotion, increases in responsibility
• Work life balance; flexible working hours, sabbaticals taken, no of days holiday/year
• Fulfilment; feeling satisfied and enjoying your working hours and career
• Reputation/career capital; being seen as an expert, testimonials, sought after and needing to do less marketing over time
• Fit; a role that plays to your strengths and in which you feel ‘in flow’
• Purpose; giving back, making a difference to the world, involvement in CSR, working for an employer with clients in the charity sector or social enterprise
• Academic; membership level e.g. fellow in professional organisation, grade for further qualification attained

What are your top 3 career KPIs?

KPIs may change with life stage e.g. needing to fund children through school or university can make salary or a pay rise very important even if you are not that motivated by money, whilst flexible working is essential if you have young children for example.

7 tips to think about your career KPIs

1. Define your own unique career KPIs – don’t feel obliged to use standard measures – what is important to YOU?
2. Track your progress; measure and monitor at least every 3 months
3. Know your industry averages so you can bench mark/negotiate armed with facts and examples
4. Build self-awareness; know what motivates you and your personal values; what is important to you
5. Get a career coach to protect time to focus on your career and help you to see your full potential, something people often can’t do as they are too close themselves
6. Give yourself an annual performance review, or ideally a career review and planning meeting 4 times a year
7. Grade your KPIs; primary and secondary or ‘must do’ and ‘nice to have’

When will you make time to think about your career KPIs for the next 12 months?

A coaching session is a great way to ring fence time in your diary to focus on your career KPIs and career capital for the next 12 months. Book yours now, e mail us:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/careercoaching/what-next/

Need to market yourself, but juggling priorities?

April 20, 2014 By // by DigitalJenIPC

Many people want to make a career change, but don’t start. Lacking time, they are always juggling priorities but investing time in marketing themselves, essential to create a career change isn’t one of them. Here are some tips:

10 tips to make time for marketing yourself

1. Language – use words that feel motivating when diarising marketing yourself activities, e.g. ‘career development project’;

2. Diarise – block out time regularly – 10 minutes a day adds up over time. So does 0 minutes a day;

3. Goal – have a S.M.A.R.T goal for your career (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed), and a clear step-by-step plan to achieve it;

4. Environment – Do tasks away from the office where client’s needs beckon e.g. in a coffee shop near work;

5. Enjoyable – focus on the aspects of marketing yourself that you enjoy, e.g. some people enjoy writing articles, other people prefer chatting 121;

6. Appealing – focusing your marketing efforts on attractive employers who you feel excited about working with because you relish their culture or because there are opportunities for progression and involvement in decision making;

7. Bite sized – creating timed small tasks e.g. tag LinkedIn connections or e mail an influencer an update reduces overwhelm;

8. Expert help – select an experienced career coach to keep you focused.

What tips would you add?

Making a career change takes time and investment in your own marketing, but if you action at least one of these tips, you will move forwards.

For more insights and tips, follow us on Twitter @talentliberator

What’s your career strategy and plan? Part 5 of 5.

May 3, 2013 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is the last in a series of 5 blogs about creating a career strategy and plan. In an uncertain world with static growth, you need to think more intelligently than others and be adaptable. Knowing where you are going helps you to get there, even when things change and you get busy.

Even just 20 mins in your diary once a week to focus on your career can move you forward to where you want to go.

12 tips and useful resources for your career strategy and plan
Here are some useful resources and tips to help you make it happen:

1. Get a career coach
2. Read autobiographies of people whose career inspires you, blogs and career self-help books
3. Look at Cedefop for future skill trends
4. Ask yourself self-reflective questions (self-coaching) to help you get clear e.g. “What would make me feel I had achieved career success?”
5. Be aware of long term work trends and how they impact on you e.g. read ‘The Shift – the future of work is already here’ by Lynda Gratton
6. Know why and how to market yourself e.g. read Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn) ‘The start-up of you.‘
7. Block out time in your diary regularly to focus on creating your career vision and plan
8. Diarise quarterly career reviews
9. Set up a savings account to invest in your personal and professional development
10. Commit to taking responsibility for your own career, don’t rely on your employer to do this
11. Imagine being at the end of your life and look back – what do you want from your career?
12. Write your CV for 5 years time

What tips would you add?

The world of work is changing fast. Make sure that you have a career strategy and plan.

“If one does not know to which port is sailing, no wind is favourable.” Seneca.

In case you missed them, here are parts 1-4 in this series:

Part 1: Why don’t people have a career strategy and plan?
http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/whats-your-career-strategy-and-plan-part-1-of-5/

Part 2: Why it makes sense to have a career strategy and plan
http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/whats-your-career-strategy-part-2-of-5/

Part 3: How to create a career strategy and plan
http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/whats-your-career-strategy-and-plan-part-3-of-5/

Part 4: Opportunity cost of not having a career strategy and plan
http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/whats-your-career-strategy-and-plan-part-4-of-5/

To receive free Energise bulletins on Career strategies, smart living and working and self-promotion topics, visit this web page and opt in:
http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

For more useful tips & insights, follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/talentliberator

What’s your career strategy and plan? Part 4 of 5.

April 27, 2013 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This blog post is part 4 of 5 and looks at the opportunity cost for you of NOT having a career strategy and plan.

“Control your destiny or someone else will.” Jack Welsh.

Opportunity cost of not having a career vision and plan

What are the implications of NOT creating a vision and plan for your career?

You dislike your job
You feel frustrated
You get left behind with your peers succeeding
You leave yourself vulnerable in the world of work
You don’t feel resilient
You experience frustration and anger from being unfulfilled which has a negative impact on your relationships and health
You feel anxious and disempowered
Your talent is unliberated – what a waste!
Your career options and choices are restricted
You are on the back foot (reactive), rather than the front foot (proactive)
You don’t realise the potential you are capable of
You provide a poor role model for your children that you can have meaningful and fulfilling work that plays to your strengths, not just ‘a job’

What would you add?

In case you missed them, here are the other blogs in this series, parts 1, 2 and 3:

Part 1:

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/whats-your-career-strategy-and-plan-part-1-of-5/

Part 2:

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/whats-your-career-strategy-part-2-of-5/

Part 3:

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/whats-your-career-strategy-and-plan-part-3-of-5/

The next and final blog post in this series will share tips to help you create your career strategy and plan.

To receive free Energise bulletins on Career strategies, smart living and working and self-promotion topics, visit this web page to view previous topics and opt in:

http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

For more useful tips & insights, follow us on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/talentliberator

What’s your career strategy and plan? Part 3 of 5.

April 19, 2013 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This blog shares some tips about how to create a career strategy and plan.

“Goals that are not written down are just wishes.” Anon.

How do you go about creating a career strategy and plan?

It is a mixture of internal and external exploration and thinking and includes:

Having a clear S.M.A.R.T. goal
Creating a timing plan
Breaking down long term outcomes into small shorter steps
Having self-awareness; your needs, wants, values, motivations, skills, qualities etc.
Diarising time to review and update it
Reviewing published data on skill shortages and job/career trends
Researching employer needs e.g. changing competencies
Looking at market, economic and industry changes and trends
Creating an image board – a pictorial representation of what you want from your career

What tips would you add?

In case you missed them, here are parts 1 and 2.

Part 2 looks at why it makes sense to have a career strategy and plan:

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/whats-your-career-strategy-part-2-of-5/

Part 1 explores why people don’t have a career strategy and plan:

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/whats-your-career-strategy-and-plan-part-1-of-5/

Part 4 of 5 will look at the opportunity cost of not having a career strategy and plan.

To receive free Energise bulletins on Career strategies, smart living and working and self-promotion topics, visit this web page and opt in: http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

For more useful tips & insights, follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/talentliberator