I’m sitting here on a sunny afternoon wishing I was outside and asking myself how come I’ve managed to create a career that requires me to spend so many hours a day chained to my computer? The truth is I suppose I haven’t, in as much as, I never intentionally set out for it to be this way, it’s just what seems to have happened – I didn’t plan it.
And that’s the thing, according to Harvard Business Review, women are less likely than men to intentionally plan their careers and this is one of the reasons why women lag behind their male counterparts. https://hbr.org/2013/09/dont-let-your-career-just-happ
My career these days has a portfolio of roles, one of which is a business coach, where I cover wide ranging subjects with my coaching clients. Sometimes that does include planning “shiny career goals” but more often clients seek coaching when life and careers haven’t turned out the way they expected, and learning to cope when the lustre fades on the shiny goals is hugely important.
But even coaches need coaching! My default position is to go with the flow with what wants to happen next, so today is different! Today is a shiny goal day; I’m going to intentionally set myself a goal for the next year.
Goals Question – what one thing, if achieved in the next 12 months, would make the greatest difference?
Well the first thing that comes up for me when I reflect on this question, is the gender wage gap for working mothers so widely reported this last week. Also the myriad of statistics which flow constantly from the UK and elsewhere, showing the extent of the progress or otherwise for women in the boardroom and elsewhere in business. Here in the islands, we just haven’t the data to know the rate of progress women are making, or not making, or the pay situation for our working mothers.
So my goal for the next year is – to find a way to work with the States of Guernsey and Jersey to produce meaningful comparative data by which we can chart the progress of women in the islands.
Anyone reading this blog, I give you full permission to follow up with me to see if I’ve achieved this by the beginning of the 2017/2018 WDF season.
Will achieving this goal change the number of hours I spend at my computer on a sunny day? Probably not! Will it create a sense of achievement and satisfaction? Most definitely! Now isn’t that what a career action plans is all about?