My work as a Career Doctor allows me to alternate between helping executives develop into the organisations they're in, or successfully shift into new roles that make sense to their careers and their lives. My services focus on one or the other depends on many factors, of course, but one of the biggies is shifts in the market.
The New Year's Scenario
See, organisations want to ensure sustainability. If the market is warm, for instance, organisations look to grow, so they invest in hiring and developing a top-notch workforce. This is where HR people contact me for leadership development workshops and executive coaching.
However, depending on how geopolitical forces impact the sector you’re in, the strategies of your organisation will change. Leadership workshops are quietly replaced by career transition services. You start to see more hiring freezes, more tension in the workplace, more people surprised to see themselves ejected from a company they’ve been married to for 20+ years. Here, my work has to be about helping people make sense of it all, quickly figuring out how to survive, adapting and finally thriving again.
The long and short of it is: regardless of political standing, we’re waltzing into a year where Brexit, wobbly trade deals, Election 2020, climate disaster and social change will send organisations squirrelling to stay afloat – as they already are.
What this means to you, dear reader:
In the short to medium term, you are more likely than before to see:
- Changes in #business direction (and in your role)
- Merging or elimination of your role, your department and/or your company
- Massively increased workload for those who stay behind.
People are talking about their “Words for The New Year.”
My top suggestions for you, given this scenario?
UPSKILL
PREPARE
ADAPT
Look: this is not a sales pitch.
There are books you can read to help you survive workplace conflict. If you find yourself out of a job, take a deep breath, curb big spends, do some research into hiring trends and pinpoint what you must learn to do in order to land a job you’ll feel OK in. You don’t need to hire me to craft a brilliant CV for you when you can find a passable template for one in Word Docs, putting a little elbow grease in it to make it stand out. Sure, you could do a live interview prep, but if you’re on a shoestring, you can practice in front of a mirror, focusing on the job specifications. Always, always, always do your research before walking into salary negotiations. And keep your cool.
There, that’s it. That’s my super duper career transition magic in a nutshell for you. Go crazy with it, but most of all, get going. Seriously. The sooner you start preparing, the smoother the near future is going to be for you, and I want to keep you practical and focused on protecting and developing your career through uncertain times.
Go.