It All Starts With One Question
If you’ve built a traditionally successful career but things start to feel off, you may ask yourself, “What should I do next?”
This question could lead you to explore further questions like:
Should I change companies?
Should I change industries?
Should I do the same work but become a subcontractor?
Should I be planning for my next promotion?
These questions could naturally lead you to a Career Coach for answers.
But what if there was a different approach: Career Design.
What is Career Coaching?
Career Coaches typically help their clients with the following areas:
Career direction and goal setting
Job search
Navigating career decisions
Job search
CV & LinkedIn development
Interview preparation
These areas all tend to revolve around that one question: “What should I do next?”
So, What is Career Design?
Career Design is a deliberate and exploratory approach to thinking about work and career, utilised through the power of coaching.
This includes:
Understanding what you actually want from work.
Identifying constraints and assumptions holding you back.
Clarifying values and priorities and understanding your strengths and transferable capabilities.
Generating and evaluating career options.
Running small experiments before making major commitments.
Aligning career ambition with the rest of life.
The core goal is to have a career by design, not by default.
Career Coaching vs Career Design Coaching
Below is a summary of the differences in approach between the two coaching philosophies.
| Area | Career Coaching | Career Design Coaching |
|---|---|---|
| Core Question |
“What should I do next with my career?” |
“How do I want to change my career so it aligns better with my life and values?” |
| Area of Focus | Career decisions. | Bigger picture: coherence between your values, definition of success and your career. |
| Time Horizon | The next step. |
Considers both the next step and the bigger picture. |
| Approach | Explore options to be able to make career decisions. | Explore possibilities, test ideas and then develop a way forward. |
| Definition of Success | Achieving the next career step. | Start by defining what success means to you. |
| Current Career | Focus on where you want to go from here. | Examines what is and isn't working about where you are now. |
| Outcomes | Greater clarity about your next career move | A clearer career direction, real-life feedback and a plan for deliberately moving forward. |
The Big Difference
The biggest difference between Career Coaching and Career Design is how the question is answered.
Career Coaching typically leads to finding the answer to one or two career questions.
Career Design is about finding new possibilities.
The process starts with building more understanding of what you want, then it moves on to assessing your current career situation and seeing where it aligns and where there are areas to focus on.
Finally, it involves trying small, low-risk experiments to be able to test potential career changes.
If the experiments work, then it can progress into longer-term career change planning.
If they don’t work, or you don’t like the result, then it’s time to try the next experiment.
Who is Career Design For?
Career Design is for people who:
Have achieved a level of success (promotions, salary, title, etc.) but aren't feeling as good about it as you expected.
Are beginning to question whether your career still fits the life you want.
Know they need a career change but don’t know what that change is.
Are considering a career change but don't want to rush into a decision.
Priorities have changed recently due to family, lifestyle, ambition, or simply getting older, and you need a career that is more aligned.
Does Career Design Always Mean Career Change?
It’s easy to assume that if you are dissatisfied with your career, then the result of career design would be to leave and start over.
This is not the case.
Actually, it’s quite the opposite.
Career Design can result in:
Changing role or jobs
Changing responsibilities
Moving into or out of leadership positions
Changing your working hours
Working from home more
Starting a side hustle
Changing your perspective about your current career
Understanding that your current career is actually ok, but you can get more fulfilment from extracurricular activities.
These changes go from drastic to minor, but the core theme is that the changes result in more coherence between your values, your definition of success and your career.
How Does Career Design Work?
I’ve created The DESIGN Method to act as the foundation of Career Design.
The DESIGN Method is a six-stage coaching framework for building a career by design, not by default.
The DESIGN Method will help you to focus on the most important areas relating to career change in a structured way and then give the space and time to think through the important decisions you need to make with a trained and certified coach.
By the end of The DESIGN Method, you will have done the work to have:
A clearer understanding of what really matters to you.
A personal definition of what career success looks like.
A clearer picture of your current situation and what needs to change.
A range of possible directions to explore.
Real-world evidence from testing those possibilities.
A clearer career direction.
A practical plan for moving forward.
Greater confidence in making your own career decisions.
The DESIGN Method is structured to include:
Introductory Call - To assess if the programme is right for you.
Pre-Programme Survey - To baseline how you feel about your career.
6 x Worksheets - One to complete before each coaching session.
6 x 45-minute Coaching Sessions.
Post-Programme Survey - To help quantify the progress you’ve made.
Closing Session - To review & celebrate progress, and discuss what’s next.
Inter-Session Support - For accountability and additional support.
So, What Should You Do Next?
Let’s end where we started, with the question ‘What should you do next?’
Well, if Career Design sounds like something that can help you with your career, The DESIGN Method is launching very soon.
You can join the waitlist here.
The first 4 people to sign up will receive a ‘founding cohort’ price, so don’t miss out.
