Harmonics

First Mover Advantage in the game of Career Chess

We regularly speak at ‘careers week’ events in corporate organisations to help offer fresh insights into career management in the changing world of work. As part of these events, there is often a company lifer rolled out to tell their career story about how they joined the organisation as a shy 22 year old, expected to stay for 5 years but they are still there 30 years later. The typical career story – a vertical career path from graduate to Manager to Director. This celebrates the message that a combination of lifetime loyalty and hard work pays off in the end.

Celebrate career agility, not lifetime loyalty

But how appropriate is it to showcase this message in today’s world of work? It is considered career suicide today to spend your life at one organisation and in one functional silo. Organisations are becoming flatter offering less promotion opportunities, so new routes to career success need to be urgently explored.

An interesting HBR study revealed 66% of employees don’t want to be managers.  The research continues to tell us that only 7% say they want to pursue C suite Executive Leadership level positions.  So when organisations are showcasing what career success looks like, they should not promote career progression as ‘up being the only way’.

Engaging the disengaged majority

The 66% of employees who don’t want to be managers are in the majority in every organisation.  And even though they form the backbone, there is often very little left in the budget for their career development.  If an organisation does not profile someone as a future leader, then potential career paths are rarely identified and career development is very much up to the individual.  Is it any wonder the Gallup survey on disengagement stands at 70%?

These two pieces of research tell us 66% don’t want to be Managers and 70% are disengaged. There must be some correlation. My view is that employees don’t believe their outstanding individual contributions are valued by the organisation. The only reward the organisation can offer is to promote them when someone leaves or retires. But is that what they really want? And is it the best match for their skills set.

Is it time to change the language of career success?

It is time for organisations to realise all successful career paths do not have to end on the senior leadership team.  The future of work is truly open, so organisations need to be open and honest with their people.  They need to help them to become realistic about their career futures rather than trying to tempt them into climbing the career ladder which might not be appropriate for their skill-set or sustainable for the organisation.

We have identified 4 clear career pathways that employees should consider:

Enrich – This is the most obvious but the least researched career path because it will show little movement on your CV. The enrichment strategy is really about seeking new ways to challenge yourself in your current role and develop new skills. The most practical way to enrich your current role is to become involved in a new project, this could be a cross functional project, or becoming skilled in a new technology that makes you more marketable. Your job title, grade level or status tells us nothing about your future ability to succeed and thrive in a changing world of work. It is your ability to be proactive, innovative and to collaborate that is considered currency for career success.

Explore – This pathway is about seeking opportunities in different divisions or departments across your organisation. It often involves taking a leap of faith into a new area that may make you feel vulnerable. Career growth only occurs when you step outside your comfort zone. It should never be about only wanting more financial reward but the longer term reward of becoming more employable. This strategy requires building relationships outside your own function that have the power to make things happen for you. The biggest barrier to exploration is personal self-confidence to begin self-marketing yourself for future internal opportunities.  If you don’t explore, someone less skilled may do and this increases frustration, so take action.

Elevate – This is the traditional route of upward career growth. One word of warning; make sure you complete a series of career assessments in advance of seeking a people management role. Secondly, invest in developing your people management skills as part of seeking any promotion. It’s tough managing people you once worked alongside in the trenches. Relationships change and you have to be ready for being unpopular and making hard calls. The road to promotion is littered with shattered egos and stressful sleepless nights. The glow of promotion soon wears off, so best be prepared as it’s not just about the increased monthly pay cheque. There is a reason you are paid more to climb a level!

Exit – I know many organisations are not promoting this as a career option. But it’s increasingly happening. There are more jobs offers externally. My advice here is not to be swooned by the recruiter promising the earth moon and stars in the new shiny company down the street. Like promotion decisions, think carefully about what enriches you personally and what you want. The lack of research people put into career moves is quite startling, they just accept information as gospel truth without doing their own digging. Always fully exhaust all internal conversations before this becomes the only option left. Lastly on this, organisations just have to become more resilient to accepting a certain level of churn at this time of increased opportunities.

First Mover Advantage

In truth, there will be different times throughout your career lifeline to employ each of the 4 career strategies above. In the world of work today, organisational change is inevitable and we all need to take personal ownership of our future careers. Proactivity is the key, waiting for the Organisation to make the first move means you offer up your first mover advantage!

Up is not the only way

Career Development needs to be for everyone. In the past, talent management was the preserve of the chosen high potentials prepared for the swift lift to the Top Floor. Career development helps employees become realistic about their career futures.

We have created a 24-7 anywhere, anytime access Gateway Career Portal which offers employees their bespoke Career Framework map plus thousands of Career Development resources at the type of cost that makes business sense to companies of any size.

I am always struck by how many people think that career success is all about promotion – getting to the next level and an increase in salary. The expectation is to follow the hero’s journey Hollywood style; by getting the next promotion all of our problems will be sorted and we will live happily ever after.

It may have worked in the traditional and hierarchical organisational structures of the past but times have moved on. In saying that, organisations continue to spend a lot of time and money profiling high potential talent and grooming them to be the leaders of the future. Succession planning appears to be focused on the talented favourites. They are promoted or sent on management development programmes as a reward for high performance in their current role despite the fact that performance in a current role is no indicator of success in a management position.

Great succession planning, in an ideal world, would have a subs bench-primed with ready now and ready soon leaders to fill any gaps that may appear if someone moved or left at short notice. Reality, as we know, is often very different.

So is this talent development approach for upward only moves setting employees up for an extended period on the subs bench without experiencing the real thing? Is it created a frustrated level of hi potential talent ready to be poached by a recruiter? Has the organisation thought about what these people actually want? Do they as individuals know what they want?

The first question to be addressed is: What do people really want? HBR Research shows us that most people don’t want to be managers and only one third of employees aspire to management positions at any level. That’s right only 34% really want to manage people and only 7% want to work at Executive level.

Up is not the only way

Career progression should not equal promotion. If it’s not what everyone wants, then why do so many see the next level as the Holy Grail. The challenge, we see in our coaching practice, is that there are just not enough promotion opportunities in flatter organisation structures today. There are fewer levels to climb thus creating this ‘mud layer’ of people stuck at a mid-management level and even greater numbers below having no realistic opportunity of gaining promotion.

It is time to change the language of career success away from the traditional and hierarchical industrialised pyramid structure of “up being the only way” because the pyramid is filled with unintended and unsustainable consequences.

Start with the end in Mind

Before selecting a candidate for a management or leadership position or indeed a management development programme, we advise organisations to put their talented individual contributors through a 1-1 Career Stocktake programme to help them identify their personal career strengths and make a fully informed decision on what they want for their future career rather than accepting what someone else says would be good for them. We know from research that 70% of interviewees reported chance events had significantly impacted their career choices. Individuals simply do not put enough research our self-assessment time into plotting future career moves. Too many simply respond to a ‘tap on the shoulder’ suggesting a great move for you would be…… In this future world of work we all need to create our future career direction.

Right person for the right career move

Individuals need help to do this and our Career Stocktake career coaching programme helps them bridge the gap from where they are now to their best future career move. Typically delivered over three intensive career coaching sessions with access to our suite of career assessments, the programme helps individuals realise what they want and for the organisation to know they have the right person as a candidate for a management role.

It’s also time for organisations to communicate more that all successful career paths do not have to end at the top of the pyramid scheme on the senior leadership team. In our next blog we will look at our Career Pathways Model – where organisations and managers can help staff to follow realistic career paths.

It is wise for individuals to follow their intrinsic motivational drivers in selecting future career moves and not be swayed by extrinsic career offers that may be someone else’s view of career success. Create, and continue to refine, your career path in alignment with market demand. Real life is not like the movies and up is not the only way!

In an executive career coaching session recently, a coachee spoke about their conscious decision to opt out of the global career merry go round.

I’m not mobile

He was on the leadership team of a global multinational and had communicated his succession planning message to the Global Corporate HQ. The message was clear and to the point: “I’m not mobile”.  He has of course impacted his future career progression within the global corporate structure. “I’m not mobile” is typically associated with someone who has strong family ties in the area and doesn’t want to uproot school going kids to travel the globe.

When I questioned him further on his stance, there was much more to it. He said, “I’m not mobile because I don’t buy it.”

Blind career ambition

The reason he didn’t buy it was because he didn’t see a long term win-win for the personal sacrifices associated with upward only career progression. He had seen high fliers pass him out on the way up with less talent but with more blind career ambition. This led them into a blind alley because in many cases they reached a level within the corporate structure where there is nowhere else for them to go. They ran out of road. Typically in their early fifties, they then receive a tap on the shoulder to say their time is up. A hush-hush compromise agreement is reached and they get a lump sum settlement to ease their exit.

They have raced to the top with no long term career vision about what will happen when they get there. Their career plan has been tunnel visioned to get the next level job with more responsibility, challenge, authority, status and pay. The work hard, play hard mentality ensures they over deliver on their performance goals. Each time we reach a goal, we receive a dopamine hit that makes us feel good about ourselves. Achieving double digit growth, X% corporate savings all serve to justify our self-worth. Seeking dopamine hits becomes the drug of work; another project knocked out ahead of time or under budget becomes our raison d’etre, our meaning from work.

Blind faith

I have coached many of these Senior Executives when they are eased out of the corporate world and they hit a wall because of their blind faith that the company would see them as somewhat different. I recently asked an Executive attending our 50 Plus Career Stocktake Coaching Programme to name three people over 55 in his organisation and he couldn’t! “Well, why would you be any different?” I asked him.

We spoke about why individuals need to create their own personal career plan and not depend on the organisation to always look after them. He was shocked and angered with himself for being so naive and is now working on a twin track career plan. He is creating his career platform for next stage career success before becoming a victim to the corporate way of doing things.

The truth revealed

When you work for a large corporate, it is imperative you know the rules of engagement and you won’t get hurt. It’s a partnership approach but it’s not a marriage for life. It’s a marriage of convenience where you do a great job for them and in turn you build your employability and marketability for the longer term. They should offer you opportunities by providing challenging assignments to grow your career. If they don’t offer them, you should seek them out. This is what my coachee did; he sought new site projects to become involved in and built a breadth of experience. This made him the go to person to be associated with any new capital investment projects on site.

New Psychological Contract

He understood the new psychological contract. He knew he wasn’t special, but while he added value to the site, he was still a person of value to the corporate. Up is not the only way, in fact it can sometimes be detrimental to your long term career aspirations. But this new psychological contract is not on the radar of Executives and Managers who are 50 Plus and I believe more government led programmes should be introduced. We have an ageing population and with the increasing race for new talent, it is such a shame that older talent are being eased out the door.

Opening minds rather than chequebooks 

The 50 Plus age group have much to offer the corporate world. But they are often playing by the old career rules. The 50 Plus population need to become more focused on seeking out new projects to develop new skills. Likewise, organisations need to start opening their minds to what is possible rather than opening their chequebooks and letting them go on attractive packages.

50 Plus Career Principles:

1. Career agility trumps Job Level: Don’t ever get carried away by your job title, level, salary or status or pay grade. You may have reached a certain job level but always continue to replenish and refresh your skills by seeking new projects that build your career agility. The last three years on your CV are the most important and the most relevant.
2. Heads up is smarter than heads down: In rugby, they teach ‘heads up rugby’ and playing the game in front of you as it develops rather than sticking to set plays that won’t make sense when the game is live. In your career, you need to scan your entire environment in front of you. Keeping your head down busy helps with your ‘projects to do’ list and keeps your boss happy but always remember leaders look to the future, followers keep their heads down.
3. Challenge zone over Flow zone: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi speaks about people being at their best when are fully engaged in what they do. He calls it the flow zone. The challenge with many people is that their flow zone becomes their comfort zone – the financial accountant who becomes a Business leader, for example, and can’t take his/her head out of the financial spreadsheet. Instead, they become caught up in the detail. The challenge zone for them needs to be becoming a better leader and developing their leadership skills. They revert to type and end up failing their people by counter checking their work while not spending enough time developing as a leader.

Uber has just launched their first semi-autonomous self-driving cars in Pittsburgh.  This giant leap forward in robotic technology is just one of the many changes impacting the workforce of the future. Uber has truly disrupted a traditional industry sector in just a short few years and, if we look closely, provides some learning’s that can be applied to career management and the case for people to self-drive their careers.

Uber is an online transportation business and since it’s launch in 2009, has spawned the rise of similar platforms such as AirBnb, Netflix and Apple TV. They have all displaced traditional business models and this has started a discussion over the general transition to peer to peer transactions across industries.

Let’s look at some of the similarities between Uber and how HR operates.

HR is now in the transportation business.

Uber is in the transportation business enabling people to get from A to B as efficiently as possible. The role of HR is similar in many ways; enabling people to see how they can transition from point A to point B within their Organisation.  In today’s dynamic organisation, HR creates the map or a career framework to show employees where they sit in an organisation, what competencies they require to succeed and potential career journeys they could pursue.

But often HR, from our experience, is still caught up with many legacy systems unfit for purpose in the world of work today. Traditional HR systems and processes were created for a time when industries were consistent and stayed the course of time. Job descriptions were somewhat similar from one year to the next and career pathways were vertical and siloed within a specific function. Employees waited patiently for those above them to retire from their roles and saw this loyalty and service tenure rewarded eventually in time.

It’s all changed radically today. HR needs to respond to the growing career aspirations of a diverse workforce.  Employees are no longer patient; they want to get from A to B and they want to find out how and what they need to get there. The key question for talented employees today is:

How will you help me get from A to B so I can grow my career?

If HR can’t show them how they are going to grow and develop within an organisation, they will hail the next ride to the next employer offering more opportunity. HR puts so much energy and resources into attracting and hiring people that little time is allocated to creating a map for future career growth once an employee arrives at their first destination – a powerful retention tool.

Uber understands this and offers an efficient system that works for the end user. At Uber, a customer can rate the driver. So too can employees rate their employer on Glassdoor. A low employer rating on Glassdoor will impact new talent joining, no matter what the recruitment advertising slogan says. Transparency has never been more available to employees. (Job candidates are also known to use LinkedIn to review and rate managers they could report into in the future.)

Supply and Demand for Self Driving

Uber also uses algorithms to increase prices to ‘surge’ price level sometimes up to 4 times normal pricing, rapidly responding to the changes in supply and demand. This ‘surge pricing’ is prevalent in hiring and retaining talent with the skills in demand today. It is important for employees to be aware of the future skills needs in their industry sector. A recent report on the future skills within the Biopharma industry in Ireland is a good example*.

Self-Driving Careers

Employees who are serious about self driving their career need to re assess regularly what skills they have to offer now and what will be in demand in the future. Waiting for your Manager to have a career conversation with you and tell you where to go is the traditional way. This is like waiting for a chauffeur to pick you up without any instructions on where you want to go! Managers today are simply too busy to worry about you and what you want from your career. Yes, they should have career conversations with you but in the majority they don’t. By waiting in the wings, you are leaving yourself open to a long delay in going from A to B.

Uber has shown us a new way to take more control, to become more autonomous, more self-driven.

Your responsibility as an employee is to create the route you want to take. The role of HR is to create the map and show you the options that may be open to you. HR may not be able to highlight all of the routes available so it is incumbent on every employee to research the best route for them to be at their best.

Uber teaches us the traditional and static systems are a thing of the past. Disruptive approaches are now becoming more common. Our message is for HR and employees to become disruptive in mapping out the future. We have been creating new career frameworks and visualising new futures for employees on our 24-7 anywhere, anytime access Gateway Career Portal for Organisations and their employees. We liken this approach to Uber creating new modes of transport for those interested in self driving their careers and for Organisations to attract and develop the best.

HOW ORGANISATIONS & EMPLOYEES CAN PREPARE FOR DISRUPTION

Huge change is on the way. We are living at a defining time in human history. We are at the beginning of a fourth industrial revolution and the future world of work is going to be very different from the past.

Yet, organisations and their employees are struggling to address or keep up with the pace of change.

When we consult on organisational change projects, we can meet a lot of resistance. This resistance is often borne out of fear. Fear of the unknown. There is a comfort factor knowing the road well-travelled, so why change?

The Kodak moment

The Kodak moment is a great example of why change. In 1976 one of their employees presented the Board with the future of Kodak by inventing the first digital camera. They rubbished his innovation and ignored the camera as a gimmick that would never catch on. At that time, Kodak were making lots of money out of the paper and chemicals business and wanted to protect the status quo. Kodak lost sight of their original mission which was about preserving memories in time.

In 1996, Kodak was worth $28bn and employing 140,000 people. But fast forward 16 years and, in 2012, Kodak had dwindled to 17,000 employees and filed for bankruptcy. The very same year Instagram (the digital version of Kodak also in the same business of preserving memories) was acquired by Facebook for $1bn employing just 13 people.

Inevitably, more and more business models will be disrupted by digital technology and more and more job losses will happen in the developed world.  Accounting, legal, administration, customer service, validation, sales, and finance are all being automated right now.

When we speak about this type of disruptive change in organisations, a minority get it but most hear it and ignore it. It’s like they are standing on the sea shore and won’t believe there is a tsunami coming unless they physically see hundred foot waves coming at them there and then. As we know seeing the tsunami there and then means it’s too late to survive. It’s too late to climb to higher ground and reach safety.

Our Brain hates Change

What we have learned from neuroscience is that there can be no behavioural change without structural change in the brain. Our habits or ways of doing things without thinking are simply a number of superhighways in our brain that were created to make it easier for us to remember stuff. These habitual ways of doing things, like driving the car to work the same route every day or checking emails each morning, all happen because we did them yesterday and the weeks, months and years before in the same way.

The brain hates change because it has evolved to build patterns for us to easily remember the way. The neural pathways are really memory maps with defined routes for us to operate on autopilot. This way we don’t have to stress each morning on how to drive our cars because we know how to do it. To create new pathways of thinking is harder and requires more energy. It means we have to travel a road into the unknown with no ground rules or guarantees that things will work out in the end.

 Organisations hate Change

Organisations are no different because they are full of people with well-developed habitual patterns of behaviour doing the same thing today they did yesterday. The management layers also hate change. They have risen to a certain level and want to play it safe, the less risks taken the less likely of making mistakes. Homeostasis becomes a management style.

Plus, organisations have well defined ways of doing things – usually described by organisational development specialists as culture. That won’t work here is what we often hear.

So, before embarking on change journeys, organisations and their leaders look for proven models and ways of doing things. They are looking for client case studies on how they handled change. They want the proven six step formula. They want the McKinsey report to say this is what you should do. They want social proof that they won’t be outliers and look foolish.

So why change?

Marshal Goldsmith in his famous book, “what got you here, won’t get you there” says it well. Many Executives leading businesses today all believe the criteria that got them here will get them there. They are wrong. Playing safe won’t get them where they need to go in the future. Resisting change and new ideas led to Kodak’s downfall. Many of the brightest ideas for the future are within organisations; we need to allow these voices to be heard.

I hear a lot of rhetoric in organisations that they want to build creative and critical thinking and they want to encourage innovation. But they allow no mechanism for this to develop in themselves or others. The brainpower and capability is in every person and every organisation to change. They just need to know why to change and be led authentically by a brave change leadership team that takes steps on the road less travelled rather than the road well-travelled.

Brain based Executive Coaching is hard work. It means a full interior design project, moving the furniture, fixtures and fittings of the brain around. But how many of us want to go through the torture of turning our houses upside down and embarking on a full interior redesign and living with the messiness of the change associated with it. The thought of it puts most of us off. It is easier to buy into the change when we have a clear picture of what it’s going to be like post the change. We see this played out in so many TV home improvement programmes.

The challenge with Organisation and People Change is that few have a clear picture of the future world of business or work. Without this clarity, organisations, just like our brains, are self-preserving under threat. This leads to many old traditions and habits being maintained. It leads to unhelpful behaviours in people who have most to lose in any future change. Disruptive technologies are and will continue to inflict pain at all levels in organisations for those who turn a blind eye.

Three key takeaway messages to Organisations, Leaders and employees today

1. Disrupt yourself before you become a victim of the disruption, see this HBR quick video to generate more career growth ideas
2. Decide “what got you here won’t get you there”, see a short video telestration review of Marshal Goldsmith’s book
3. Become comfortable being an outlier in conversations and taking small risks daily to build new neural pathways. See a short video telestration review of Malcom Gladwells book

There is no clear picture of the future, only signs that we can read if we are interested enough to sense them. There are no certainties in life and we may need to turn the whole house upside down again in a few years’ time. This is the future of work – change, change and more change. So why change? I will leave you with this great quote about Change from Wayne Dyer “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.

Managing the growing career aspirations of a diverse workforce is proving to be a big challenge for HR Departments. In response, many organisations are introducing new career frameworks. The purpose of a career framework is to show employees where they sit in the overall organisation, what job family they belong to and what competencies are required to succeed in their current role or other roles.

But the career framework is only a visual representation of all of the roles, job families and levels in the organisation. It’s a lot like getting a map of a six storey hotel complex which shows you that it has so many rooms on each floor. The rooms on the bottom floor room cost less and the room rate increases as you move up the floors until you reach the suite on the top floor. This top floor, where the CEO resides, should give them a panoramic view of everything going on in the Organisation.

The map is not the territory

However, the map is not the territory; it is purely a visual representation of the Organisation. What many forget when introducing career frameworks is that the map does not show the reality of what is really going on. It fails to show the many broken lifts in the hotel stopping great people from moving up, the rooms that are locked by managers trying to hide their talent, those who have reached the fifth floor through having a corporate sponsor, the rooms that were acquired as a favour as part of a special thank you, the rooms where poor performers lie, where the lifers reside and rarely ever check out and the mission critical rooms – where the most talented inhabit. And if they were to leave it would automatically raise the alarm on all floors; it may even lead to an evacuation of more talented people in time.

Top 7 Challenges with Implementing a Career Framework

Before an organisation considers building a career framework it needs to get the foundations right. From our experience, here are the top seven challenges that need to be addressed in launching and implementing a new career framework:

1. A career framework needs to be an organisation wide initiative and not just something that HR imposes on the business. It’s important to set up a cross functional working group who are representative of the diverse departments and workforce in the organisation.
2. Career progression is mostly seen by employees as promotion, a pay increase and a new job title. There needs to be a shift in mindset that career progression is about building new skills and breadth in your career and not just promotion.
3. In a new career framework, employees will see where they sit as part of the whole organisation. It is imperative that realistic career journeys are included on the framework to spotlight potential career building moves through both lateral and vertical moves across functional silos. These potential career journeys then spark career conversations for employees to have outside of their own function. This broadens their mindset about the career options available to them internally rather than jumping ship and can prove an excellent retention strategy.
4. Managers need to understand the benefit of having career conversations with not only their own reports but also with those across the business. This is a major stumbling block as often managers are purely focused on hitting the business numbers and ‘fear the soft and fluffy career development discussions’. The reality is that recruiters are calling these same employees on office time with new job offers. They are offering employees more career development time than their managers which is a huge missed opportunity. Managers need to enable their people create new career growth opportunities. See our recent blog on a new model for talent retention here
5. Talented Millennials are seeking rapid promotion and are often disappointed that it’s not possible to get promoted every second year. The reality is that organisations are flatter today so lateral career building moves are the only realistic way to grow a career and this needs to be communicated.
6. There needs to be a greater acceptance that talent will leave whatever you do. Holding back employees is not good for business or their career growth. If an organisation doesn’t have a role that can offer them career growth, then an adult to adult career conversation must take place. They will appreciate it and may come back again with newer skills in a few years or even recommend a colleague to come work for the firm now.

Career Development Principles workshop

We have created a Career Development Principles workshop for OD, L&D and HR specialists within organisations tasked with introducing Career Frameworks. The workshop provides a structured template to guide and challenge participants thinking on the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ involved in introducing career frameworks into a unique culture.

Career Development needs to be for everyone. In the past, Talent Management was the preserve of the chosen high potentials selected for the swift lift to the next floor. We have created a 24-7 anywhere, anytime access Gateway Career Portal which offers employees their own bespoke Career Framework map plus thousands of Career Development resources at the type of cost that makes business sense for companies of any size. Check out this two minute video tutorial of our career management portal.

 

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The second half of your career is longer than you think

I met James last week. Twelve months ago he made a really big decision. At 48 he returned to college full time to complete a one year MBA.

The journey back to full time education started for James after I worked with him on his Executive Outplacement Programme. His senior global role was made redundant, but he had already become jaded by weekly air travel (he has amassed free air miles for the rest of his life!)

During our one-to-one sessions, he discovered he didn’t want to continue on this corporate global journey nor at the same pace. He budgeted what he needed to put aside and, with his redundancy package as a buffer, he made the decision to go back to full time study – it was his missing link. The light bulb moment happened when I drew his career lifeline on a flipchart. It had three ages on it 18, 48 and 78.

18________________________48________________________78

He was only half way there.

I am turning 50 this month and I know that by the time I reach 78, this will be closer to the official retirement age, not 68. This is the reality of an aging global population, our current lifestyles and insufficient pension funds for the future.

But if we reassess our career game plan, we can look forward to the next 30 year stretch as an opportunity for rebirth and personal growth, rather than something that we have to get through.

At 18 we look forward to the next few years of college life as a time to combine study, carefree fun and independence for the first time; somewhat naive, wide-eyed and hopeful for the future. However, the World of Work is Changingrapidly and one intensive three or four year block of study is no longer adequate. Long-term employability means having diverse and up-to-date knowledge and skills.

The impact of seeing this lifeline prompted James to see the next 30 years as an opportunity rather than a problem. It’s a brave call but he has created a new platform to pivot in a new career direction.  He is now as enthusiastic as a fresh faced college grad of 22.

He sees the future world of work with new eyes and has already built a totally new network. He has been able to bring years of international business experience and marry it to the latest business thinking and models. This fusion of valuable work experience and learning has made his MBA much more relevant and rewarding.

The qualification was something he personally felt was missing but not just on his CV; James also wanted to test himself academically. He is now in the top quartile of the class which has greatly increased his self-confidence. It has given him a second wind for the second half.

There are many people like James who, for whatever reason, are offered a redundancy package to leave in their 40’s or 50’s. But instead of taking the time to reassess and reinvest in themselves, they think about the next 30 days, the quick fix and rush into job seeking mode rather than setting themselves up for the next 30 years.

They find a new job and continue to work hard but it is never as good as where they were. They keep scanning the job sites for the role they hope will take them back to the good old days.  The next 30 years for them will be a continual decline, spiritually, emotionally, financially and physiologically.

Going back full time to college may not be possible for everyone, but learning and upskilling is becoming essential as identified in recent McKinsey research. The opportunity to reassess and recalibrate is always an option. The latter half of your career does not need to be like the first half. In the European championships this month, we will see teams adapt and change their game plan for the second half to get the result they want. The successful teams will use half time to reassess, re-energise and refocus their priorities. They will also have coaches who continually challenge them to be at their best.

The reality is we will all be living and working longer. The second half can be the most rewarding time in our lives but only if we are brave enough to re-evaluate what we have to offer, what will be in demand in the future and what we need to learn and do to bridge that gap.