Last week we highlighted the main components of the Intelligent Career Model that underpins our new Career Discoveries course.  The call to arms is clear - careers will look different in the future and tomorrow’s winners will self-drive their careers from the beginning.  If the desired end points are as described in the model, firms and their employees will need to better understand early in people's careers what will suit both parties best so they can begin a proper development plan.  This requires a pragmatic and holistic view of the individual whilst still at junior levels, perhaps with some career coaching intervention to help them reconcile their values, career aspirations, preferred behaviours and environments.

This model has touched on three important issues: 

1. The importance of systems-based thinking to embed self-learning and sustained career management once the coaching has ended;
2. The importance of mapping supply onto demand to get essential clarity and conviction before approaching the market;
3. The importance of environmental as much as functional fit in predicting career longevity and success.  People tend to leave bosses, not jobs.

 But one thing underpins everything:  relationships. An organisation is simply a sum of human relationships and it is the leaders' job to ensure those relationships can flow and flourish as much as possible. "People make the world go round", as the old saying goes, yet many of us have tried through sheer force of logic and data to create the career acceleration we want. Neuroscience has provided a much needed clinical evidence base of why bad relationships and cultures can impede performance, both at individual and organisational levels, and its findings must be taken seriously. 

 So in conclusion, take better care of people emotionally you encounter through your working life, learn to adapt your behaviours to accommodate differences and remember that a coffee works a lot better than an email. Outplacement providers, please get in touch and see how this course and our coaching more generally can help you transition your people in a generous, positive way that helps them in ways that actually matter and shows you care at the same time.

 James Parsons

James is a Founding Partner of Defy Expectations and brings over 10 years' experience in both career and leadership coaching. He works with business leaders, entrepreneurs, founders and third sector CEOs on performance and leadership issues, and individuals on career management, as well as designing career management courses for organisations. 

Access Career Discoveries here

www.defyexpectations.co.uk