Amalia Chilianis - Work-a-holistic: A practical guide to changing your career

First published in 2021 by Amalia Chilianis

Amalia Chilianis 2021

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Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever experienced moments during your working life where you wondered How did I get here?, Is this all I can hope for?, Surely, there has to be something better than this! or This is definitely not what I am meant to be doing, but I have no idea what is!? So many of us are unhappy with our job or career, have been feeling dissatisfied or frustrated for a while, or are stuck in limbo, where both staying in our job or making a change to something else seem equally unappealing. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to re-evaluate their priorities in life, to think about where to next? and to figure out how to create a life that they truly want for themselves and their loved ones.

Your time is precious and life is short, so as well as meeting your fundamental need for an income, your work and career can be enjoyable, provide for great satisfaction and work with not against your priorities in life. Meaningful and satisfying work can be incredibly rewarding and can positively impact your happiness and wellbeing. My goal is to help you change your career and life for the better through a holistic, practical and empowering guide. This book provides the knowledge and tools for you to change your career or job and to help you to continue to evolve as the world of work continues to change. Investing in yourself and your own ability to transform is safer and more rewarding than placing your trust in one employer and one long-term job.

Work and life are inextricably linked and the action plan for achieving more satisfying work cannot be in isolation from the rest of your life. This is something Ive learnt firsthand from more than 25 years in human resources leadership roles for large, complex organisations, including IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, National Australia Bank, General Motors Holden, government and others. While at Holden, I designed and led, along with a team and colleagues, the most successful support program to help people transition to new employment post-closure of manufacturing and reduction of engineering services. Although optional for workers to access this program, almost 90% of around 3000 staff participated and successfully secured gainful employment, many into completely new careers. A couple of years after closure in 2019, I decided to go back and interview some of the professionals and senior leaders to uncover what truly made the difference for people when making a career change.

What I uncovered through the interviews was that money from a redundancy payout and working the job-search process were certainly helpful, but they were not the elements that benefited people the most. Too often in our personal lives and our jobs we focus only on working the process and we ignore the whole. Its like creating a diamond to only look at one facet, and then wondering why it looks dull and lacklustre.

Expanding my research to numerous fields of psychology and neuroscience as well as interviews with people from different industries and professions confirmed my findings of whats truly helpful in making a change to work that matters. The good news is there is not one single right way; there are multiple paths to success, and exploring facets of the whole from a pragmatic perspective will help you find your own way tailored to you.

To quote the great Dr Seuss:

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

Any direction you choose.

Youre on your own. And you know what you know.

... Oh, the places youll go!

As in Dr Seusss tale, another hope and intention for this book is that it helps you to avoid the Waiting Place (a most useless place!), whether you wish to make a change or are forced to do so through job loss.

This book provides a practical approach to making sense of a myriad of interconnected research and evidence in a way that is helpful and applicable to a range of industries and professions. It is designed as a guide you can use without hiring a coach or paying for formal assessments and is structured in three parts: Self and Others, The Job Market and Inspiration, with a number of activities to help you better understand yourself and the value you can bring to numerous possible future roles.

In Part One, Self and Others, we focus on you: who you are and what you want. We will explore your readiness to change and the things that might be holding you back or keeping you stuck and how to overcome them.

To make any change, and especially if you are hoping to do something really different to what you have done before, then Pause, Play and Rewind are powerful tools. Whether you are a convert to the benefits of mindfulness or not, Im sure you will agree that focused attention is necessary for making significant life changes. The strategies I share will not only help you now, but also at any time when things get challenging or when you need to re-focus. As adults, we often forget how to play; however, play can be therapeutic as well as a great indicator of our strengths, which can show up from an early age. According to Plato, You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation. Before looking forward, I encourage you look at where you have come from and what you can learn from your experience so far. The Rewind activity on past job satisfaction will be really powerful and useful, showing what you want more of and less of in your next move.

My greatest hopes and intentions are for you to get more of the life you want: more happiness and satisfaction. In The Whole Picture, I suggest a structured way for you to build that picture of your life. Work can be such a rewarding and fulfilling component of life and can influence your life satisfaction and wellbeing. Succeeding at work happens in tandem with the other parts of your life.

Understanding your priority values and how they influence your Driving Decisions (sometimes holding you back) will help with your career move, and also your personal life. Finding a new role in which you can regularly experience a state of Flow will also increase your happiness and satisfaction. Well identify your individual Strengths and discuss how putting them to good use can result in greater enjoyment at work and better performance with more energy and vitality.