CareerTalk
SEPT 2006 - Conscious Career Tradeoffs - a savvy approach to 'getting it all'
You've done the hard work - the self-assessment, research and solid career
'experiments'. Finally, you have clarity - a vision of how you want to live and
work - roles you'd love to play. You're ready to commit.
Time to face those pesky 'tradeoffs'. You knew they'd be there, but now the thought
of compromise is tying you in knots. Are you willing to move to a new location, go
back to school or put off family life? Are you ready to trade down financially or
work as an intern to get experience?
What to do with competing career motivations? How to decide which of your needs is most
important now? The anxiety can be overwhelming - the real fear that meeting one need
now, means totally abandoning your other needs forever. Meet Julie.
A consummate 'career builder', Julie had been an environmental technologist for 4 years.
Our previous work confirmed her passion for human resources and suggested paths into
management. Eventually she'd need a business degree - but first she wanted to build her
leadership skills.
Eight months back from 'mat leave', Julie had worked hard to reestablish credibility. She'd
put in the hours, done the grunt work and supported the team. Like many ambitious young
professionals, Julie was impatient.
Her manager knew she wanted more responsibility - but it wasn't happening … and there were
no promises. She needed to 'reposition' herself - but how?
Our first discussions circled around Julie's competing goals and emotions. She was feeling
hurt and undervalued - consigned to the 'mommy track' without consultation.
How long could she 'tread water' without getting stuck in technical support forever? Was it
time to go back to school or look for another job? With childcare and a workable schedule
finally in place, the thought of starting over was discouraging. Her carefully laid plans
were unraveling.
Julie needed to step back, revisit career goals and then decide how best to live
'in the moment'. To be both a successful mother and a future 'star manager', she might have
to face tradeoffs. It was important for Julie to know exactly what she was giving up and
what she was getting instead.
Our objective was to help her clarify options, decide on a plan and, in the end, be able to
accept and enjoy her decision … along with any tradeoffs.
The Results
We began by spinning out the permutations - brainstorming pros and cons and possible
long-term implications. To reality-test our assumptions, we sent Julie out to interview
other professionals and managers in her field - hoping they'd be candid and generous with
advice.
When we met to review her research, Julie was feeling more confident and ready to organize
her thoughts. She was excited about the contacts she'd made and the ideas they'd offered.
She was ready to consider certain compromises.
We discussed and finally plotted her findings on a simple chart:
(a) Returning to school or moving to another firm meant giving up current security and adding
stress to her already over-managed life. In either case, she'd be trading dollars for
development. In return, she'd be building new expertise - moving directly toward her goals.
(b) Staying put meant stretching out her career path and shifting energies to her family.
Temporarily, she'd be forfeiting momentum and some personal development. On the plus side,
she could use the breathing space to make new connections outside of her current firm.
(c) Patching together a combination of part-time work, school and parenting was the ultimate
compromise with the sense that nothing was being done well.
Laying it out like this was the kind of structured approach Julie needed to 'see' her way
through. With clear and 'rational' choices before her, she was finally able to tap into her
emotional, intuitive self … even relax and admit that she was enjoying being a new mom.
From her new perspective, none of the options were as extreme as Julie had feared. She was
attracted to option B - it offered security, time with her family … and a unique window of
opportunity for inching forward outside of her workplace.
Less emphasis on 'proving herself' at work left more energy for enjoying conferences,
networking and identifying progressive companies. To help make it happen, we circled a
date on the calendar (when Lulu enters Montessori) and outlined a series of manageable
steps she could start on.
Now that Julie had faced her trade-offs, she could accept her choice with confidence - knowing
why it was right for her - now and in the future. Granted, someone else might have made a
different choice, but this was the path that empowered Julie.
The challenge is always to live in the present while keeping future plans alive. Conscious
career tradeoffs need to be embraced, written down and posted in plain view (on
the fridge) … for days when you might waver and forget that you really are right on track
for 'having it all'.
|
