Career Change Definition

When we are discussing career change here we are talking about two types of move. The first is a move between functions e.g. between Marketing and HR. Or where you are looking to stay in the same function but in another business sector e.g. manufacturing to retailing. Each of these types of move can be considered as a career step and conventional wisdom is that the most you should attempt to make is one step. In other words trying to change function and change industry sector may be exceptionally difficult. This is true however we have worked with clients who have achieved it.

Career Change Tips

By using the tips provided here individually or in a combination to suit your personal circumstances you will be able to make the career move that you are looking for;

Internal move; if you want to change function the most obvious place to look is within your current organisation. However to be successful on making a move like this you need to have a good reputation both in your current function and in the function to which you want to move. Don’t assume you have a good reputation; you need to check this out carefully. For instance you may be seen as great by the HR team in which you work because you make people follow policies. However the Operations team may just see that as obstructive behaviour!

Internal networks; if you are planning to move function internally you need to build your internal profile with the function to which you wish to move. Go out and spend time with members of that team. Let people know you want to move. Get involved with projects that involve the functional area which you want to join. This is a detailed guide on making an internal move across function

Transferable skills; think about your achievements in your current job and which transferable skills they demonstrate. So you may work in sales promotion and have successfully organised a rolling sales promotion calendar across 300 retail outlets. This would demonstrate communication and planning and organising skills. These skills would beuseful across a range of other functional areas.

Skills Based CV; write a skills based CV that identifies all your transferable skills so that a potential new employer or recruiter can immediately see what you have to offer.

Networking; if you want to move to a new business sector or function the single most effective way to do that is by networking. To make an external move you need to list down everyone you know who may know something that will help you. This might be about the business sector or the function to which you want to move. You then need to get out and meet people in your network to research the business sector or function. This is a guide to effective networking. Networking is time consuming but it should be interesting and it’s how 98% of our clients make the career change that they want.

Become an expert; make sure you become an expert on the functional area into which you want to move. Research the key roles and their purpose. This is key to your success as it demonstrates an interest in the function and shows you know what you are doing. There is nothing worse than someone wanting to join HR because they want to ‘help people’. Why not? Well as well as recruiting people HR also deals with dismissals. If you are planning to move to a new sector, make sure you understand the sector and its current challenges. This includes its market size, growth or decline, legislative and social trends.

It is possible to make a career change across functions or business sectors. I have done it personally and I have worked with many coaching clients who have successfully made such a career change. By following the tips here you will give yourself every chance of making the career change you desire.

Tony Goddard

What is a Company Culture?

The reason people find it so difficult to change company culture is because they tend to focus only on behaviours and forget all the complex elements that together encourage and reinforce behaviours. To be fair it is hard to provide a simple definition of company culture, but in simple terms it is about corporate beliefs, attitudes and the way things get done in the company.

When introducing a cultural change programme many organisations create a programme designed to communicate and embed a new set of behaviours. An example of this might be the introduction of a team working culture. What seems to be forgotten are all the company processes and structures that together generate the current behaviours. As a result the change programme eventually gets extinguished by the strength of the current culture.

In our Executive Coaching work with CEOs and Directors on developing and implementing their own change programmes we have found that there are 5 critical processes that need to be addressed as a part of any successful cultural change programme. They are described in the following paragraphs.

Reward Systems

What you reward tends to get done. Organisational reward systems send one of the strongest messages about what is important in the company. So for example there is no point in saying that you want a sales driven culture if all you reward is the achievement of profit. Think through carefully what signal every element of your reward system sends about desired behaviour. If for instance you give huge severance packages to those that do not perform well – you may be creating a culture where people know that poor performance can lead to relative wealth. If you dedicate most of your available cash in a pay review to a general increase, there is no point in pretending you want a meritocracy where the best performers get the best rewards.

The key lesson is to make sure your reward system aligns with the new culture you want to introduce.

Promotion

You would be surprised at how much notice people pay to who gets promoted in a company. So you need to make sure every hiring manager understands the behaviours that will get people promoted. For example there is no point in introducing a consultative leadership style if people see that those getting promotions are managers who consistently adopt an authoritarian leadership style. This just tells staff you don’t mean what you say.

Turning a Blind Eye

It’s unfortunate, but often there are people in influential roles who only pay lip service to the cultural changes you are trying to achieve. So for example if you want a coaching culture it will not be helpful if some members of your management team continue to hit their targets by simply telling people what to do. Give everyone the chance to change and the skills to do what you want. If there are some that don’t want to make the change they have to go whoever they are. You would be surprised how what a strong message this sends about how serious you are about change!

Organisation Structures and Approval Processes

Make sure that your organisation structure supports the culture you want to introduce. If you are seeking people to take greater accountability you may need to consider reducing the number of organisational layers. If you want better cross functional working it may be necessary to combine functions or even create new ones.

As part of your organisation review consider how decisions get made. If you are looking to speed up the pace of decision making you may need to devolve approval levels. If you want to tighten up controls you may want to do the opposite.

Executive Coaching can be especially useful in helping a CEO or Director in this area. Senior Executives will have their own agenda when there is a potential threat to their organisational influence and power base. An external Executive Coach can provide an independent sounding board for decisions on organisational structure.

Reinforce New Behaviours

One important way of making cultural change stick is, at least initially, to measure it. It takes a lot of effort and energy from staff and managers to change behaviours. Some say it can be as longer than a year. If you put in place a measurement system you signal the importance of the change and of course you also know whether it has actually happened.

There are lots of ways of doing this but one of the best is an attitude survey which can provide great feedback on what is going on in reality. For example if as a part of your cultural change you want managers to regularly brief staff on company performance, you can ask if this happens in your survey. If you want an open and transparent discussion with staff on their potential and training needs – ask if it’s happening.

When you get your results make a point of rewarding and highlighting those that are getting the best results and follow up on the barriers where there are poor scores. You would be amazed how well this works. The survey does not have to be expensive or lengthy. You can put a 10 question survey online at very little cost.

One important point is to make sure your survey covers everyone from CEO down through the organisation. Also make sure the results get publicised in departments or teams.

In Summary

We have found that our Executive Coaching clients that attend to these key areas have a much better chance of making cultural change stick. There are other areas that may also need to be considered but these can vary by organisation, an example of this would be Information Systems. However the 5 areas covered here apply to pretty much any organisation.

Tony Goddard

Here are 3 reasons why Executive Coaching can enhance your performance as a CEO:

Independent Sounding Board

It can get lonely at the top. At the end of the day the buck stops with you. So it’s helpful to have someone from outside the company with whom you can review and share your ideas and plans. An Executive Coach has no vested interest in what is going on in the company and can therefore provide an independent challenge and sounding board. You can feel free to have an open discussion because confidentiality is a key part of every Executive Coaching contract.

When you are making plans it can be difficult to know if those you are working with have their own political agenda. This may mean that their input is designed to suit their agenda rather than that of the company. At a senior level it is entirely normal for people to have some sort of agenda either to build or defend their power and influence – this is human nature. An Executive Coach has no political agenda so you can be sure of an independent and non judgemental view on the topics that you discuss.

Unique Relationship

In surveys of our coaching clients they say that the relationship with their Executive Coach is unique outside their immediate family and friends. The Executive Coach is always committed to your success and will provide encouragement for you to achieve your objectives. In the business world CEOs find few people who offer this.

Personal Feedback

As a CEO how often do you get feedback on yourself? Your Executive Team may feel it is not appropriate to do this for a whole range of understandable reasons. However an Executive Coach will give you honest feedback on things like your leadership style and approach. This can provide you with development to enhance your business performance that is not available elsewhere.

As an Executive Coaching Company we find that our clients come to us for one or more of these 3 reasons. By investing in Executive Coaching you have the opportunity to enhance your business with a personal development expert who is independent, non judgemental and committed to your success. Why wouldn’t every CEO want that facility?

Tony Goddard

Career Coaching

Career coaching is one way of getting personal one to one careers advice. Through career coaching you can focus on the areas where you need specific help. As a company we provide one to one careers advice to both graduates and postgraduates. It’s the support we give that enables our clients to stand out from the crowd and be at the front of the queue when it comes to getting the job that they want.

Careers Advice Available

Everybody tends to have specific needs of their own. But a good careers coach should be able to help you with any of the areas detailed below, plus anything else you come up with. So here are the ways in which good careers advice and career coaching can help you:

• The right job; if you haven’t decided, how to choose the job that gives you everything you want – motivation, enjoyment, rewards package, personal development, career path

• A CV that gets you interviews; there are lots of different ways to write a CV but there are some things it has to do quickly e.g. grab the recruiter’s attention. A good careers coach will ensure your CV is fit for purpose and gets you the interviews you want. In many cases is really isn’t too hard to improve the chances of getting an interview by 25%

• Online applications; these have computer filters on them and if you don’t complete them properly you will be rejected by the computer before a human sees your talents. A good coach or graduate careers advisor will ensure you understand these filters and that you understand how to respond to those awkward competency based questions e.g. describe a time where you overcame difficulties to achieve a deadline

• Interviews; believe it or not you can prepare for interviews and ensure that you are not as nervous as your competition. In this way you can concentrate on worrying about how you project yourself rather than the questions you are going to be asked. You can’t know 100% of the questions that will be asked but we believe you can be prepared for 80% of the questions – probably 80% more than your competitors!

• Assessment centres; most graduates are not quite sure what will happen at an assessment centre. As careers advisors we can explain how assessment centres are designed and the different things you can expect to have to do. Rather like interviews you can prepare for assessment centres and most of your competition will not have done that

• Networking and marketing; you need to sell yourself on the job market and with competition the way it is that can be quite a tough proposition. However most graduates network ineffectively if at all. Many graduates simply trawl the job sites or careers fairs – this is not the best way to get a job. Some 70% of jobs are obtained through networking

By working with a good careers advisor on topics like those mentioned here you can really improve your chances of getting the job that you really want. You will be significantly better prepared for the selection process than many other graduates or postgraduates.

Our Careers Advice is based on our experience of working with graduates and postgraduates. Our knowledge is built on our backgrounds in senior HR roles. Most of us have been involved in designing and running graduate recruitment programmes so we know what we’re talking about. If you want to know more please call and we will be happy to talk through what you are trying to achieve and whether we can help you.

Tony Goddard

Doubts About Coaching Supervision

There were a range of reasons why I had doubts about coaching supervision and I have explained the key ones here. I suspect some of these may resonate for other new Coaches?

• Poor Chemistry; my first coaching supervisor was assigned to me as part of a development programme. He was a very competent coach but we never had a chemistry meeting and so from a personal perspective I found I experienced a very mechanical and non engaging relationship. This meant that our supervision sessions lacked depth – caused by my lack of commitment to them. This experience has served as an object lesson for me as to the critical importance of chemistry meetings for my own clients.

• Qualifications; I had completed a Masters degree in Coaching and did not see that I needed any further development as a coach in order to enable me to help my clients. A fairly arrogant viewpoint for a Coach! Based on a total lack of understanding of what is offered by coaching supervision. Plus of course a poor initial experience of coaching supervision.

• Coaching Supervision is too expensive and time consuming. I’m not going to address these points individually other than to say this is not the case if you have the right coaching supervisor. I get fantastic value in terms of time and cost from my coaching supervision. I estimate that my coaching potential improves by 10 – 15% per session.

The Benefits of Coaching Supervision

• A confidential relationship with someone who is dedicated to helping you resolve your coaching dilemmas

• Working in a relationship where you are the coachee. It really sharpens your awareness of how to best work with your own clients.

• The opportunity to develop new coaching approaches. My coaching supervisor has a very strong background in Gestalt coaching, something about which I know little. However each time we meet I am learning more. I’m by no means an expert but I have learned enough to develop new and fresh ways of working with my own clients

• 95% of my coaching supervision sessions are focused on my real life coaching experiences rather than hypothetical situations. This enables me to find solutions to the dilemmas I face in my day to day work. We cover a wide range of topics – coaching approaches, difficult relationships, ethical matters, right through to business development. The sessions are really open, other than the fact I protect the anonymity of my clients’ names and companies.

• The development that I get is tailored for me personally and my situation – exactly what as coaches we offer our own clients.

This is not meant to be a sales pitch for coaching supervision – I don’t offer it anyway. But it is designed to explain what coaching supervision is all about. It also describes why a somewhat doubting new coach has moved to see coaching supervision as an essential process for enabling me to better support my own clients.

Why Assessment Centres Include Presentations

All assessment centres are designed to look for a specific set of competencies (behaviours or capabilities).  These vary by company and by the type of job being filled. A presentation is included in most assessment centres to enable the assessors to rate competencies such as – curiosity, communication, impact and influencing as well as planning and organising. You may be asked to make a presentation prior to the assessment centre or on the day. The guidance here is for those asked to prepare a presentation beforehand.

Tips for Making a Successful Presentation at Assessment Centre

• Stay on Topic: it is easy to drift away from the topic on which you have been asked to present. This happens because candidates have some information they are keen to get across. Or they don’t review their presentation as a whole before they give it. This is a fatal error and is likely to mean you will fail.

• High Quality Research: the presentation is an opportunity for the Assessors to see the quality and quantity of research that has been done by candidates. So make sure you don’t just rely on a simple Google search on the company name. Assessors will be looking for the number of resources used for the research – company reports, news sites on the internet etc.

• Practice: this is key for any presentation and it’s the thing most candidates fail to do. A failure to practice shows normally because the candidate is hesitant and looks like it’s the first time they have made the presentation. If the presentation has not been rehearsed it also means it has not been properly timed (see below). If you have rehearsed your presentation you will know the content so you can concentrate on projecting yourself and your subject matter well.

• Keep the AV Simple: unless you need to demonstrate creativity try and keep your presentation material professional but simple. Using a multi-media presentation with music, lights and slides is likely to go wrong and detract attention away from what you are trying to say.

• Timings: this is easy – make sure you stay within the time limit you are given for your presentation. If you are about to run over on time you are likely to be stopped before you finish and you will be marked down for a failure to follow the time guidelines

• Anticipate Questions: expect questions from the Assessors, they are often asked to make sure they ask a couple of questions to see how you respond. So don’t worry if they are asking you questions.

If you follow the 6 tips given here you will make a much better presentation than most of the other candidates at the assessment centre. A good mark on this exercise will really help your score for the day.

Most of the tips here relate to how you behave outside the main assessment process. This is something candidates often do not consider. If you want to know more about how to succeed at assessment centre group exercises, presentations and interview click this link.

The key thing to remember about any assessment centre is that it is only as good as the assessors running it and at the end of the day they are only human like the rest of us. So it pays to ensure you maintain a good relationship with both the assessors and other candidates and company staff. The guidance given here could easily tip the scales in your favour on an assessment day.

• Arrive early 1: get there 15 minutes before the start time. This gives you time to mentally prepare, get to know your surroundings and perhaps more importantly look the part. Make sure you have the time to go to the toilets and check out your appearance and relieve yourself if you need to. This is far better than arriving late with egg on your tie and traffic grime on your face from the traffic – plus needing to go to the toilet badly!

• Arrive early 2: if you arrive early you will get the chance to get to know some of the other candidates and build a bit of a relationship with them. This will help your nerves and could help you in any group exercises. An early arrival can also mean you get taken to the room where the assessment centre will take place that often enables you to meet the assessors and reduce your nerves a bit more.

• You are Always on Show: Although you may not be rated on how you behave outside the formal assessment exercises it may well influence the assessors’ views of you. So during breaks make sure you are around to chat. Don’t spend the whole time making calls and sending texts. Be careful what you say during breaks. Keep to safe subject areas i.e. not religion or politics! Finally be polite to everyone you meet. From the moment you arrive you are on stage and reception staff and others may well mention a candidate’s good or bad behaviour to assessors on an assessment centre.

These assessment centre tips have been written based on many years experience of designing and running assessment centres. They are more unofficial than official rules, but they can have a huge impact on the outcome of the assessment centre for you.

The identification of the participants and their companies is confidential. It was agreed that the research can be published as long as anonymity is maintained. The figure in brackets after the quotes is the number assigned to each research participant.

The Relevance of Coaching Location

For the Executive Coaching clients interviewed the physical location for coaching provided a number of practical and psychological benefits.  The majority of participants emphasised the importance to them of a physical location for coaching that took them away from the day to day work environment and distractions, “You can get away from it all, that was my big thing, I don’t want to just sit in my office, I want to get away from it all.” (P1, 25).

It allowed them the time to prepare and create the right mind-set:

“I’m meeting [coach’s name] at half nine, got into Starbucks Victoria at half past eight, went through all the materials, planned, prepared for the meeting, had myself a coffee, walked across Green Park, you know, no suit, casually dressed, into see [coach’s name], very relaxed and you’re kind of in that zone as opposed to being in the work zone” (P2, 36)

Participant 3 explained how the location acted to provide a mental space:

“…the minute I arrive at [location]…there is something in my head that switches me out of work and into this very different environment…and your head loses some of the work noise that’s in your head and you just have a bit more space in your head I think” (P3, 6)

 Location Creates the Coaching Environment

There was not one particular kind of location that the participants found suitable.  They mentioned private clubs, coffee shops, and offices that were away from their normal workplace.  However the consistent theme was that the location provided an environment in which they felt relaxed and comfortable, “…there’s people there but they are kind of sitting down there relaxed as well, if that makes sense.  So there’s a bit more of a relaxed casual environment than a busy full-on environment.” (P4, 20).  The location and environment had an influence on how natural some participants felt they could be, this was particularly the case where some of the coaching had taken place in businesses run by the executives’ organisation:

“When I’m in one of my own places I’m a different person to when I’m not in one of my own places, because, you know, I’m [participant’s name] in that place and everyone knows I’m [participant’s name]…so I have got to be careful what I say…” (P5, 17)

The location was seen by other participants to have an influence on the nature and intensity of the coaching conversation, “And I don’t know whether it’s deliberate on his part…but where I meet him does not feel like a work situation.  And I think that does play a part in the type of conversation you then have.” (P3, 4).  In describing a meeting in a noisy coffee shop Participant 1 also found that this influenced the nature of the coaching conversation, “…with the noise around you, it probably didn’t feel that we could be quite as intense…” (P1, 29).

The majority of participants experienced the location for their coaching as an important influence on the coaching relationship.  The physical location seemed to provide both practical and psychological benefits.  This aspect of relationship did not emerge in the published coaching studies reviewed.  Some comment is made in the practitioner literature on the importance of a location that offers privacy.  However this does not capture all the psychological benefits of the coaching location experienced by the participants in this study, such as; the creation of mental space, feelings of comfort and relaxation and the influence on the type and intensity of conversation.

It seems to me that the key lesson from this research for any Executive Coach is to explicitly discuss what kind of location a client would prefer for coaching rather than making an implicit assumption.

This study is based on research with clients in executive coaching. The identification of the participants and their companies is confidential. It was agreed that the research can be published as long as anonymity is maintained. The figure in brackets after the quotes is the number assigned to each research participant.

Coaching Provides a Voluntary Discipline

In the experience of all the Executives it emerged that aspects of the coaching relationship and process combined to provide a form of personal discipline which facilitated the achievement of their coaching objectives. Some participants described the process of coaching as one which forced progress on their development, “I think in my experience the great thing about coaching is it is almost a process that keeps you on track and forces you voluntarily, if that makes sense to make progress.” (P1, 5).  This quote suggested that although the participant had chosen to be coached, the process forced him to address his personal development challenges.  It seemed to be this element of being ‘pushed willingly’ that was helpful to participants.  Another example of ‘forcing progress’ was contained in the account of Participant 5:

“So is it any surprise that you work on a topic with someone who is very good at coaching, he forces you to practice more and more at it, and at the other end you should be a bit better at it, shouldn’t you?” (P5, 18)

 How Coaching Provides Personal Discipline

There were many examples of parts of the coaching process which provided a form of personal discipline for participants.  Examples of these included; starting meetings by following up on agreed actions, “…if I commit to something that I believe is right, I will make it happen and it really helps if someone then says ‘well have you done it?’” (P3, 20), or the review of agreed actions at the end of the meeting, “…so it tends to be wrapped up [coaching session] in that way which is fine because I think it’s setting some structure for in between times what you’re going to think about” (P2, 27).

There were also examples of the coach challenging the participant to take responsibility to do something that had been discussed, for example, “…he’d go ‘ok would it make sense if you thought about it [trying out a behaviour at a meeting] and you’d go ‘I’m busted now, I’d better do that’ [both laugh] ” (P1, 7).  This quote created a sense of having no way out but to try what had been discussed.  However there was a humour in the way that Participant 1 made the comment and a recognition that the challenge from the coach would be of benefit to him.

The experience of all the participants was that this ‘forcing of voluntary progress’ was welcome and worked because it happened within a positive coaching relationship.  For many participants the nature of their relationship with their coach was such that they felt an obligation not to let the coach down.  This was apparent in the account of Participant 5 when he described his perspective of telling his coach about the actions he had taken since the last session, “There’d be actions from the previous session, not in a formal way actually but in a promise sort of way…proper emotional promises to a certain extent, you know, you’re not going to let them down.” (P5, 12).  The promise to the coach also seemed to be two way in the sense of not letting the coach down and the participant not letting themself down, “Is there an element ‘have I let him down if I don’t do this?’  Only sort of because I think I would have let myself down first…” (P3, 20).

The form of personal discipline experienced by the participants in coaching was an important aspect of the coaching relationship for them.  This was described as valuable in helping them toward their development goals.

Here we present 5 key benefits of coaching identified by the International Coach Federation. This is based on an article written by the ICF for the Human Capital Institute. In it the ICF quotes from its own Global Client Coaching Study on the benefits of coaching.
The key benefits of Coaching are:

1. Coaching supports organizations with key business goals. Within the coaching partnership, the coach will work with your employees to identify and create clarity around key business goals and establish effective management strategies to ensure goals are met.
2. Coaching enhances effectiveness. This is especially important if you have employees taking on new or leadership level roles. Coaches are trained to work with clients to inspire them to their personal and professional potential, thus increasing productivity and effectiveness. Within the coach-client relationship, a focus will be placed on learning and clarity for forward action. According to the ICF Study 70% of clients reported a positive improvement in work performance.
3. Coaching builds communication skills. The ICF Coaching Study revealed that 72 percent of those being coached noticed an improvement in communication skills. Furthermore, individuals who have engaged in a professional coaching partnership have walked away with fresh perspectives on personal challenges and opportunities, enhanced thinking and decision-making skills and enhanced interpersonal effectiveness.
4. Coaching gives the resilience to manage uncertain economic times. Coaching is a very powerful tool in the face of uncertainty—organizations of all types and sizes have experienced the value coaching brings including: increased business performance, improved product quality, higher employee retention and morale, greater employee commitment and leadership development.
5. Coaching restores self-confidence to organizations hit by the recession. Organizations that have experienced workforce reductions through downsizing, restructuring, or a merger place extremely high expectations on the remaining workforce. Restoring self-confidence to face the impending challenges is critical to meet organizational demands. The ICF Coaching Study shows 80% of those in coaching saw an improvement in their self-confidence.

The article identifies 5 key individual benefits of coaching. In terms of the overall benefit of coaching to business coaching offers a significant return on investment. The ICF Study found that 86 percent of companies made back at least their investment. Of those, 28 percent saw an ROI of 10 to 49 times the investment and 19 percent saw an ROI of 50 times their investment.