Sometimes after years of working at the best place in the world, with the best team in the world, with the best resources available to us, we might discover that we feel exhausted, anxious, angry, desperate.
We do not recognize ourselves. We are not motivated. We do not thrust leaders and do not feel connection with colleagues. We feel impatient, frustrated, desperate. We look at the mirror and do not see a glimpse of our cheerful and energetic old self. We might cope with chronic fatigue, headache, insomnia.
And the best place does not look as good anymore. We notice that nobody sees us for what we really are. Our talents are not appreciated, our strengths are not praised. Our efforts feel not relevant. If feels like we do not get what we deserve.
It can be that our bosses are toxic towards us, or that we are having an ongoing unresolved conflict with colleagues, or that our tasks and responsibilities do not match our talents or values. Or we might need less or more workload, a different schedule, another sensory environment or a different working culture.
Career coaching can help us clarify what is going on.
Why we lost our motivation and drive. Why we feel so tired and numb after our working day. Why we loose interest in talking to our friends and family after a full shift. Why we are involved in conflicts at work, why we always find ourselves in the same role in conflicts and how it affect us. Why we try to solve strategic tasks of a company in our free time. Why we feel that work tasks are urgent and of highest priority whereas family and friends can take a backseat.
After naming what is real, we can afford to see what our working environment looks like. That we are manipulated by our boss and sometimes even by ourselves. That we feel not seen and not praised by our colleagues for our good efforts. That we have a bad luck of being involved in conflicts and that we cannot (yet) navigate misunderstandings gracefully.
Sometimes we do not need to dig in too deep to find an optimal solution.
Taking one day off. Working part-time. Changing a department or a team. Asking for a raise. Confronting the boss about a bothering issue.
In other cases, we need to focus on our emotional attachments to our job, our colleagues, our bosses, our dreams and visions. And we might discover that past, outdated beliefs and expectations are still guiding us. These beliefs are often rigid, ultimative, and strict. They deprive our careers of flexibility and joy. And in the worst-case scenario they do not even belong to us but come from our parents, family, or friends.
Then it is about time to check with ourselves what we are really willing to do. What did we dream of when we were kids. What excites us. What would be our ikigai, what would give meaning and purpose to our working hours. What would be our – good enough – compensation for our focus and efforts. What would be the good enough team to work together or along with.
Besides knowing what we would like to do, we also need to know how we can do it and how we can be on our own side while doing our amazing and very important work.
We answer honestly how many hours per day we can and are willing to work. How many minutes we can work before our attention scatters. How many meetings we can survive before feeling enraged or apathetic.
We note how our body signals the need of a short break and when the longer break is needed. We notice which characters irritate us the moment they enter the meeting room and which characters turn into the best associates.
We learn to recognize the desire to turn some responsibilities down. We learn to refuse tasks which do not match our talents and expertise. We take on the responsibility for feeling safe, well-connected and efficient.
You are welcome to enroll for a 7-hour career coaching trajectory.
During the sessions, we describe your working reality and note your help request. We focus on who you are as a person, what is your character as well as your intellectual, emotional, and social talents. We review the values, goals, and vision which guide your career path. Finally, we clarify your expectations for your workplace, colleagues, as well as your function.
We review you conflict resolution style and your attachment style towards your function, bosses and colleagues.
With the clear view on your goals and values, you can update your strategies of finding and ideal workplace or re-organizing your current workplace into an ideal one.
Along the way, you learn to embody your ethics and build self-care routines which protect your well-being.
We work with blocks of four or seven sessions. Each VDAB session lasts 60 minutes and a regular session is 50 minutes. Each first session is an intake and the last session is a synthesis and outtake.
Please mind that you need to order loopbaancheques from VDAB before you stop your contract with your company. Please forward to me your client ID and cheque ID before the scheduled intake session.
“Work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it’s just a job, and life is too short for that.”
Tim Cook