Unsettling Times?

Are you feeling unsettled in your job right now? Well if so, you are certainly not alone.

The global pandemic has caused many individuals to actively challenge their own assumptions about what they are doing and what they might want to do next. 

Clearly if you have been displaced as a result of COVID 19, then you have little choice but to consider a wide range of options about the next job you do. This can be an extremely difficult time where your previous job equilibrium has been unexpectedly challenged and new decisions forced upon you.

But even if your current job has survived the last difficult 12 months or so, you may still be experiencing quite serious concerns about your future. Recent coaching conversations with career-minded individuals from many different parts of the world suggest the following common themes:

Nervous Anticipation - even though your job remains secure, the consequences of COVID for your business may not yet be fully clear. Indeed the writing may already be on the wall about changes in your current organisation that lie ahead and may negatively impact upon you. And, as we all know, uncertainty in life without finality can be particularly unsettling.

Survivor Syndrome - in the recent period of turbulence, you may have seen a number of your very close colleagues being made redundant from your business and, although you yourself have survived, you now feel a strong sense of regret and guilt from the shake out process; perhaps the positive feelings you had about the organisation when you first joined have been tarnished and are causing you to question if it's still the place for you.

Reflective Self-Discovery - the prolonged period of relative isolation and uncertainty combined with working from home has probably given you much more time and opportunity than normal to reflect on you, your life in general and the job you are doing. Feedback suggests that this may have caused many individuals to think deeply about what differences they might now want for their future not only from work but in the overall balance in their lives. It is not surprising therefore that many are seriously thinking about significant changes in career direction as they look to their immediate future. 

Whatever your reason for feeling unsettled our simple advice is:

▶️ Think it through so you can test if it's a passing phase or a genuine reason to change.

▶️ Take some action i.e. don’t leave the feeling to bubble away as it will probably just grow and begin to effect your well-being. 

▶️ Indulge yourself with some very positive self-talk i.e remind yourself that your are experienced and skilled, you are good at what you do and you always have a choice to do something different.

▶️ Make yourself a plan to change by either seeking to positively influence the situation around you or by reaching out and discovering what new alternatives and opportunities there might be for you.

▶️ Seek some help - find a coach or trusted colleague who can guide you on evaluating your options, help you define your message and challenge your assumptions about “what next?” for you.

And two further actions you might like to consider:

At Brosna Career Consulting Ltd, we regularly work with many talented individuals to help them re-focus, replan and enact a career move - if you would value a conversation about the work we have done with others and how we could help you, then please just email me in confidence at tim@brosna-consulting.com and I will reply quickly.

Alternatively if you just need some practical, self-help guidance at this stage to check-out your thinking on your future, you might like to purchase and download our recent e-publication “Navigating Your Future” by following this link https://www.brosna-consulting.com/publications 

Either way, very best wishes for the next stage in your career journey 

Tim Chapman

Managing Director