The very fabric of our society, the way we live and work is changing.
Chinese proverb says “When the wind of change blows, some build walls, while others build windmills.”
You can surely rely on luck to carry you through these changes, or you can take a chance on becoming a deliberate thinker in your career and life to address one thing that is permanent in our life – change.
In February of 2021, The Predictive index surveyed more than 500 executives from more than 15 different industries. The goal was to understand how companies that practice talent optimization fared in one of the most tumultuous business years on record. It revealed that talent optimisation is a differentiator even in a difficult year. 93% of companies that practised talent optimisation were able to prevent major financial loss during a challenging business year. 87% of talent optimised companies surpassed or met their goals in the past year.
These companies have meaningful missions, clear visions and strategies that are aligned with the talent strategies. They are exercising self-awareness as a vehicle for fulfilling their missions. They see their strength and thus are able to match them to areas of opportunity. Such companies seek people who are self-aware, recognise their own strength and know how they want to contribute their talents to developing company strategies.
First female NFL coach in Super Bowl history, Katie Sowers, in her interview stated, “When you get those players who change the game, it’s because you spent time really looking at who they are not only as a player but as a person – how are they going to fit in the culture, how are they going to bring better potential out of those around them?”
Successful, progressive, innovative companies who are on the mission, adopt the same approach. They recognise the importance of hiring for behavioural and cognitive fit and leaning into objective, fact-based data to bring clarity to the interviewing process.
But it’s not new.
What’s new - are the trends in our society accelerated by the pandemic.
As of 2020, we have been seeing events, named by government relations expert Bruce Mehlman as “super-disruptors” to society: recession, mass protests, political instability, and a pandemic. 2022 continues to contain all four disruptors topped up by the wars around the world, deepening the uncertainties. Only three years since 1900 had even three.
Pandemic shone light and accelerated trends that were well underway in our society. And it is true of career and workplace transitions as well, including:
Accelerated automation and technological trends, leading to the rise and fall of certain jobs and even industries
Increased burnout rate, driving greater attention to employees’ mental health and overall wellbeing
Rethinking the balance between remote and home-based work, and more integrated approach to work-life balance
Raising awareness and actions on issues of diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace
Emerging new strategies of getting into the workplace alternative to the traditional route of higher education
Rethinking of traditional “linear” pathways of achieving social acceptance, status and success
More people are living and working into their seventies, eighties, and beyond. According to research, at least 30% of people will be changing not only jobs, but the entire occupation in their lifetime.
We have seen more changes in how we work over the past two years than we have over the past twenty years. Today’s workplace is in continual flux. As companies evolve to be more and more nimble and shift faster and faster to meet changing markets, the workplace is less and less predictable.
Every single one of us is asking the same questions “What’s next? How do I stay relevant to the future? How do I transition or pivot into the next stage of my career and life?”
Research shows the most successful and happy professionals continuously practice a skill of re-assessing, re-calculating, re-envisioning their careers.
Adopting this skill as a mindset neither guarantees you success every time you apply it, nor protects you from economic downturns or failing to secure promotion. However, what it guarantees you, that by being deliberate in re-assessing and growing your career, you don’t miss out on opportunities because you didn’t try or didn’t dare.
One can win the game by being in the game and playing the game.
Your subconscious needs, manifested by the values, are your true compass. Trying to do something that clearly contradicts your values is both a recipe for disaster and unhappiness. It’s a sure path to cutting yourself off your vital energy. Aligning your choices and actions with your values, otherwise, ensures you secure support from your subconscious mind and thus tap into its endless energy resources, ensuring you have energy not only to dream of achieving the final goal, but also – for the journey.
“As you live your values, your sense of identity, integrity, control, and inner-directedness will infuse you with both exhilaration and peace. You will define yourself from within, rather than by people's opinions or by comparisons to others”. – Stephen Covey
If you are ready to embark on a journey of re-calculating your career, a guide to finding a path can come handy. For the comprehensive step-by-step framework, join our program ReEnvision.
