Nine Different Approaches to Career
12 May 2021
Below are nine different approaches. Reflect on each and identify how you are currently approaching your career, then decide if your current approach is the most valuable one for how you want your career to develop. If it isn't perhaps one of the other approaches would be more useful?
- The reflective approach, where you do it, figure out what you did that was good and useful, then do more of that. Lots of people take this approach.
- The retune approach, where you make small adjustments to how you are doing your career on an ongoing basis. This is an approach I often guide people to do.
- The future visioning approach, where you develop a vision for the way you want things to be, set it as a goal, plan how you will get there, and implement the plan.
- The pivot approach, where you pause in your career and take stock to see what new direction the things you have done so far could lead you in.
- The prototype approach, where you get several ideas for your career direction, then sample and test the ideas systematically.
- The devolved approach, where you ask (perhaps even beg) someone else to decide for you. Sometimes you don’t even do the asking, someone with power over you just tells you.
- The restart approach, where you stop what you are currently doing, retrain, then start again on something totally new.
- The drifter approach, where you take a more moment by moment approach, simply savouring and enjoying things while they are going well.
- The organisational pathway approach, where you trust the machinery of your organisation to determine a career path for you which you simply follow. This is a popular approach in government and large organisations.
No one approach is ideal for anyone all the time, and the above nine are not exhaustive. At different stages of your career different approaches will be more useful than others. The more important thing is to be aware and to intentionally choose.
As always, wishing you a flourishing career.
Katherine