A Different Kind of Program for Renewal
by Marion Estienne, PhD
3sixtyglobal
Background
“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision.”
(His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet)
Change in our current world is ubiquitous. When I hosted a podcast on the BBM radio network, called Present Tense, Future Perfect, I rapidly learned how developments in technology, climate change, and the globalization of the economy were pulling apart our worlds as we know them. We are moving into futures we are not prepared for. Personal and professional lives are disrupted. All require we change or transition into new realities. Like the Stoics, we need to believe that nothing is stable.
Nowhere is this disruption more evident than in our work lives during the current pandemic. Watching the world go through a major shake-up has caused many of us to redefine what we need and what we want from a career. Many may experience this as a wake-up call. Our work lives, our careers, are so central and important because work takes up most of our working hours. It provides us with a means to live as well as an identity. For many, it also provides purpose and meaning. Research from Ceridian in November 2020, reports that 64% of Americans are looking for new opportunities.
Let me tell you about an experience I had many years ago as a facilitator for a French training company in Brussels. I was asked to translate and facilitate an early retirement seminar for administrative staff at the European Community. Staff from the original and older member states were obliged to take early retirement. The EC had expanded and room had to be made for administration representation from the newer member states.
In my group individuals and couples, only one man greeted the news of an early retirement with joy. He was Spanish. In his village in the south of Spain, he established a museum that showcased wooden clogs from The Netherlands and the Benelux countries! The retirement gave him the opportunity to live his vision of expanding the museum and greeting even more tourists with financial security and time.
His reaction was rare. Others in the group were anxious and worried about “what’s next?” without the role of European Community work in their lives. For the majority, they transplanted themselves from their home countries to Belgium and enjoyed the rich cosmopolitan life of its capital.
What was keeping these senior civil service administrators stuck from transitioning into new careers, new jobs? What prevented them from seeing this event as an opportunity for growth instead of fearing the future?
I would like to propose some reasons as to how and why they became stuck.
- Fear and uncertainty. Today we have the advantage of knowing from developments in Neuroscience that the brain dislikes uncertainty. It perceives the unknown as a threat and retreats into a ‘flight or fight’ mode, triggered by a little gland at the base of the brain called the amygdala. The hormone cortisol floods the frontal part of our brain, which is responsible for reflection and reason. Instead of using rationality to deal with the unknown, we become overwhelmed with emotions. Those emotions tend to be negative: feelings of fear, helplessness, panic, or inadequacy. How do we ‘move on’ if we do not know where or how to begin and we are paralyzed by fear?
- There was no vision of what an alternative career could look like. Goals were ill defined or not defined at all. Under these conditions, it is impossible to experience change as an opportunity rather than a threat.
- They had no sense of what motivated them to choose a European Community Civil Service career in the first place. What was important to them that they wanted to hold onto and where could they be flexible? Answers to these types of questions would help propel them into the future.
- It was doubtful that few, if any at all, reflected on what made their lives meaningful and the role of a career within that. What did their adult developmental journey look like? How had they managed transitions in the past?
If any of the above resonates with you and recognize where you might be ‘stuck’ in crafting a successful transition strategy, then read on.
Current Models of (Career) Transition
Traditional and long-standing models of career transition have much to contribute and we can not neglect the tools they provide. Examining strengths, skills, and prior good and bad career choices are helpful to design a path forward.
On the other hand, many career transition programs today are heavily digital and offer a ‘cookie-cutter’ approach. They fail to take the ‘deep dive’ that a major career shift requires. A generic approach to job search does not address the specific and unique needs of many people, especially those who are looking for a new path to follow. The programs are more job search exercises and less transition strategies.
Second, one of the first to popularize the concept of periods of change and the transition journey from one stage of life to another was William Bridges in his book, Transitions. This approach was transferred to the career transition journey. His work, however, was based on linear and progressive models of adult development. Such models ignore the fact that transitions can occur multiple times in our lives and what is required is a cyclical model of renewal.
Third, developments in Neuroscience provide us with new methods to internalize change. They have taught us that the brain is a network of neurons, with the capacity to rewire itself. This is called brain plasticity. What it means is that by changing the stimuli which come into the brain, humans can change their behavior. We can learn to value and believe differently when our current belief systems fail to work for us. It’s not a one way street: changing behavior can change the brain and this permits us to look at many new and different ways of making the journey through a transition period more successful.
‘What’s Next?’ 3sixtyglobal’s Unique Approach to Career Transition
Purpose
The purpose of this program to offer tools and techniques to design a new future. Its goal is to enable the creation of a transition strategy. It promises to go beyond designing a vision or dream of what the ideal self is in the future to creating change with intentionality. First we work inwards, then we work outwards. It is a process of reflection and then action.
Dream creation is a vitally important part of this exercise, but all will come to naught if it is not supported by a plan to deal with what blocks us for its achievement. By regaining feelings of control, we can overcome those of fear and helplessness.
This program is unique in that in uses science and data. It also employs dreams and visions of the future because we need a compelling and positive vision of the future in order to do the work required during a transition. Hence, the quote above by the Dalai Lama.
Many would argue that we must grieve for the past before we can move into the future. Developments from Neuroscience tell us the opposite. New research emphasizes the importance of dreams to inspire us and to help us stick to our paths of change.
This program also differs in that it is based on a cyclical model of adult development, developed by Frederick Hudson. The more common, linear models are progressive and present change as an up or down timeline. The significance of a cyclical model is that our periods of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at each stage of life vary. By interpreting change as a recurrent event in our lives, the tools and techniques learned in the program can be applied in the future and during any period of transition.
Another data point which significantly influences our choices is motivation. We can measure motivation thanks to the Management Research Group’s Individual Directions Inventory and Personal Directions. Why measure motivation? Because this is where our energy comes from. During a period of transition and change, we need to know what will give us the energy to keep moving forward and the outcome to sustain it. Second, we need to know what environments we are best suited to and give us the maximum energy.
Why is the science important, especially Neuroscience? Because it tells us the brain is malleable, plastic if you prefer, and capable of developing new neural connections and networks. All of which means that change is possible. Not just change from the outside, although behavior change is certainly an outcome, but also from the inside, in the brain itself, which means it will stick.
Who Will the Program Benefit?
More frequently than not, it is a shock to the system that inspires people to reassess their lives. Without a doubt, the current Covid-19 pandemic has caused many more of us to question our life choices and whether these align with our core values.
A career event can be significantly shocking since our identity is often tied to our career choices. Whether the career is unexpectedly interrupted (which could not only be a result of losing a job, but also of gaining a promotion!) or by choice, this may be a period when the ground shifts beneath our feet.
If any of the above resonates, this coaching program presents an opportunity to renew and to create a successful transition strategy to achieve it.
Benefits of the Program
This program has benefits for both personal and professional growth. Participants will:
- Acquire a set of tools and techniques that can be used in the future.
Participants will take away tools and techniques that can be applied throughout their lives, during any period of life stage transition. The skills learned in this program will always make it possible to respond to the question, “what’s next?”
- Develop resilience. Resilience involves bouncing back from life’s tragedies and the unexpected. It also opens the door to profound personal growth. We need to know how to take advantage of what may seem like a setback in order to design the future.
- Achieve sustainable change. We will be working with instruments, assessments, and exercises which encourage the brain to adapt and develop new neural pathways in the face of current challenges.
- Practicing self-leadership. We will be expanding emotional and cognitive capacities to think more systemically and enhance our ability to empathize with others.
- Connect to our ideal self. We will find a future which corresponds to our temperament and source of motivation.
How is the Program Delivered?
It is an experiential program, alternating between thought provoking webinars and coaching sessions. In the current climate, it will be delivered virtually, on a one to one basis. It is also possible to alternate the webinars between small group attendance and confidential, one to one coaching. Meeting once a week, the duration of the program is 3 months.
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