‘Strength in numbers’

'Strength in numbers'

When I was heading up the Planning & Strategy Office at the great University of Reading, in a former career life, I adopted this Golden State Warriors motto for my team.

Partly because we created strength for the University through working with numbers.

But mainly as a reminder that we were stronger both individually and as a whole when we enhanced our own thinking by inviting other team members to contribute theirs.

I have missed this aspect of employment and had to work to recreate it in a different form in my new world.

I found that when you step away from a team environment, you can spend a lot of time thinking and finessing and trying to 'get it right' (whatever ‘it’ is and whatever ‘right’ is) before you share with other people. No-one’s really asking what you're doing or checking what you've produced. No-one cares if your deadlines go whooshing past, sometimes not even you.

The same can be true when you’re thinking about making a change in your working future. Your idea lingers in your head, where 'it' feels both good and safe, but nothing much else happens.

You may be reluctant to share ‘it’ with others because of the implications for them. Or because you might then feel committed to doing 'it'.

This is all very understandable, but it makes it difficult to get any other perspective, to test your thinking, to work out whether ‘it’ is desirable and doable, and to have ‘it’ enhanced by input from others. You can easily get fixed on one version of one idea, when there are other versions and other ideas which are equally good or potentially better.

It also makes it difficult to create and stick to a plan and a timeframe. Or to adapt them when and if you get new information or insight.

If this sounds familiar, here are two things you can do right now:

(1) Find someone who knows you and whose opinion you value. Someone who is well placed to listen kindly but also to question, and who isn’t directly impacted by any decision you make. Tell them, in confidence, what you’re thinking. Invite their comments. Hear them. Ask them to ask you to report back on your thoughts and actions as they progress.

(2) Invest in professional career coaching – it will provide a confidential, structured, supportive space in which to explore what’s in your head, look at it face on, get it straight, and turn ‘it’ into something real that you know is ‘right’ and you can’t wait to pursue.

The longer your idea has been solidifying in your head, the more reluctant you may be to ask others for input, and then to hear it and learn from it. But that’s exactly what you need.

Do you want to gain strength?

Then get yourself some numbers.

Learn more about my Viewfinder career coaching programme, specifically developed to support career redesign at 50+