Career Reinvention

I thought of the term Career Reinvention while listening to a Marshall Goldsmith coaching webinar. He talked about facilitating organizational change. The principles he discussed are directly transferable to career reinvention.

He used the model to the right to guide organizations through organizational change.

We can apply this same model for career reinvention.

Notice that, in one dimension, we have the positive and negative symbols. Another way to look at this is that one direction is either pushing you toward your goals or taking you away from your goals.

In the other dimension, we have what we want to change and what we want to keep.

Creating

Creating is a positive change. What do you want to add to your career? How do you want to positively change your career?

Creating the career you want…what stops you?

Fear?
Stereotypes? Perhaps you were you told that you were a certain type of person. Maybe the responsible one, the rebel, the quiet one, the pretty one, etc. How does that affect you today?
Financial requirements? Do you feel you have to make a certain amount of money?

Can you visualize what you want to become? Can you work backward to find the steps you need to take?

(More: Career Reflection – A Twice a Year Duty)

Preserving

Preserving is keeping positive things in our career. What current aspects, tasks, or rewards do you want to keep?

Listen to the most recent episode

You do not need to change everything! What do you want to carry forward or preserve from your current career?

What talents do you have that you want to build skills upon?

There are many characteristics in our careers that have been successful. Even if they have become obsolete, it is important not to discount them.

Marshall spoke about a philosophy or model for change created by Frances Hesselbein, former CEO of the Girl Scouts of America. It is called tradition with a future. You never want to put down the past. You cannot move to the future by replicating the past but, on the other hand, we can honor where we have been.

(More: Talents versus Skills: Do You Know the Difference)

Eliminating

What are those negative things in your career that you want to be eliminated? This is a two step process:

Knowing what to eliminate
Knowing when to eliminate them

If you do not eliminate things, you cannot create. There is not enough time.

You may eliminate talking when you are angry or making destructive comments about others. Another idea is eliminating toxic friends. Do you have toxic friends from your current career who are telling you how hard it will be to change?

Accepting

Let go of the past. Who do you need to forgive?

What are those negative things in your career that you do not like but are willing to accept? Maybe it is the commute or the bad coffee at work. How about your age? You cannot change how old you are. You cannot go back to being 25.

This is all about making a positive difference and not about proving how smart or right we are.

This is all about letting the things go that you do not like but at this time, are going to move on and not deal with it.

(More: The Key to a Successful Career Shift: Asking for Help)