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Time for a Career Change? 5 Sure Signs

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Jan’s Story

Jan* was facing a dilemma. She had just turned 40 and had been with her current organization for over five years and was feeling discontented, frustrated, and stressed.  At the request of her Vice President, Jan had laterally transferred about a year earlier to take on the challenge of a newly created management role. Though the function she would be managing was not her first choice of next steps, Jan felt that the opportunity would add positively to her resume and she accepted the position.  After much hard work, late hours, and tight deadlines, the first major initiative in this role was successfully completed. Awesome, right?  Well, though pleased with the results, Jan recognized that she didn’t enjoy the work, dreaded the end of the weekend, and was feeling constant stress.

The company was in the process of several acquisitions.  As each one came on board, Jan needed to roll out the same initiative to each acquired company.  With each new project, Jan could feel her dissatisfaction growing. She knew she didn’t like her work and the company was having difficulties. Yet, the job paid well, the benefits were good, and it was close to home. Also, she enjoyed the people she worked with. Despite that, Jan struggled each day with whether she should look for a new opportunity or just stick it out.

Maybe this sounds like you.  Or, your story of career dissatisfaction may have a different back story but the undeniable bottom line question is still the same – “should I stay or should I go?”

How do you decide whether it’s time for a career change?

5 Sure Signs

  1. The money and benefits are the primary reason you’re still there.

We all have financial responsibilities and no one is suggesting that money and benefits aren’t important. However, we often talk ourselves into believing that moving into a position that fuels our passion and brings meaning to our lives will automatically pay less than our current role. Additionally, even if it does pay less initially, it’s likely that more money will follow when you are able to bring your best self to work that you love.  And, if needed, I’ll bet there are some things you could adjust in your budget to accommodate bringing joy back into your life.

  1. Your body is feeling the effects.

Even if your mind hasn’t caught up with the notion that you need to pursue something different, your body is likely giving you clues.  Are you having trouble sleeping at night?  Like Jan, do you experience anxiety as Sunday night approaches and you’re dreading the start of a new week? Have you noticed a significant gain or loss in your weight for no apparent reason?  Do you find yourself feeling ill more frequently?  Are you experiencing a constant feeling of stress or exhaustion?  While there may be other reasons for these symptoms and seeing your doctor is highly recommended, many have to look no further than their job to find the source of their discomfort.

  1. Something just feels like it’s missing.

Often, we fail to recognize that aligning our needs and values with our career is critical to a feeling of well-being.  As we progress in our careers, it’s important to check in periodically and reflect on what’s most important to us.  While many of our needs and values remain constant, some may evolve and shift as we move through various stages in our lives. What adjustments to your role, manager or environment might be able to be made to shift you back into alignment again?  If this isn’t possible, it’s time to find a career or role that fits with who you are today.

  1. You’re constantly complaining about your job.

We all have bad days even in the best of jobs. Yet, if you notice that your primary topic of conversation with your family and friends tends to be complaints about your work, it’s time to pay attention. What were you like when you were in a position that you really enjoyed?  What would it take to reignite that part of you again?  Who is the person you’d like to be?

  1. You’ve lost your energy and drive.

If you find, that once in a great while, you experience moments of feeling a little bored or not overly excited about your work, that’s completely natural.  Over time, there are very few jobs that keep you excited and energized every moment.  If, on the other hand, you notice that you’re finding it difficult to get motivated about most anything, it may be time for a change.  Find a place where you can use your strengths each day; where you are energized and inspired by the work and the people around you.

Your Call to Action

While there are certainly other signs that a career change might be in order, these are the ones that I’ve seen most frequently with clients. As the fall season approaches, it’s a great time to start thinking about what you want to create in the coming year so that you can hit the ground running in January. If you recognize any of the 5 signs in yourself, I invite you to step back and do some self-reflection.  Discover where your passions lie, set a new direction, and take action toward a happier and more fulfilling career.

*Name and details changed to protect confidentiality.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development, Career and Retirement Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

 

Seven Principles of Extraordinary Results

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Image Provided by ThoughtAction LLC

Are you consistently getting the business results that you desire? What if you had a model that easily conveyed how you create the results that you experience each day? What if you could gain insight into the patterns of your thinking and behavior that serve you as well as the patterns that do not?  What possibilities might be open to you if you could learn to run your system rather than having it run you? The Results System™ allows you to gain these benefits by providing the framework, tools and solutions that raise the bar and drive results.

The Seven Principles of Extraordinary Results provide a simple introduction to the key concepts behind The Results System™.

  1. Results First and Foremost:

What is the outcome that you desire to achieve? Start first with defining your end result and work backwards from there. You create what you focus on.

  1. Goals are Not Results:

It’s important to make a distinction between a goal and a result. When you do not, you run the risk of limiting your choices and options.  A “result” is the outcome you want to create.  A “goal” is a target or milestone designed to achieve the result. For example, when you say, “I want to reach my sales target for the quarter,” you might think you are describing a result.  In fact, this is actually a goal. The result is what you will have when you achieve your sales target, such as financial stability.

  1. Choices Not Actions:

Choose your actions wisely.  Often, you might feel you are making progress when you can check items off of a list.  Yet, you may end up wasting time by leaping too quickly to action and completing tasks that are not fully aligned with creating the results you desire.

  1. Invisibles Make the Difference:

Remember that everyone has blind spots and other factors that are not yet visible. Take time to become more self-aware to reveal the aspects that are operating behind the scenes. Doing so drives better choices and actions.

  1. Silent Partners Make Predictable Patterns:

All humans have a unique and wonderful “operating system” that creates unconscious repeatable patterns of thinking and behavior.  Having such a system allows you to motor throughout your life without having to consciously think about each step you need to take to complete daily tasks like getting ready in the morning or driving your car. Over time, these patterns of thinking and behavior become invisible and operate behind the scenes.  In most cases, they serve you well. Yet, when you want to change in order to get a different result, these automatic patterns kick up a fuss. In order to dissuade you from changing, there are even three lines of defense to keep you from making a shift: remaining invisible, making change awkward, and telling us stories in our own voice that convince us that change would not be beneficial.

  1. Change is a Process:

Any change that you set out to make has an emotional component to it. To create change that lasts we must deal with the inevitable feelings that will come up. While initially you might start off positively fired up about making the change and are certain you will be successful, the actual practice of creating new habits and permanently changing your behavior may cause you to swing from confidence to doubt to hope.  When you experience this roller coaster, it may be enough to have you give up and go back to your old habits. Keep in mind that the emotions that arise are all a natural part of the change process.  In knowing that, you can design strategies to manage the emotional ups and downs and achieve the result you want.

  1. Use the System:

Take a systems based approach to creating your results. The Results System™ model helps you to reveal the visible and invisible factors that drive your ability to create results. Your Results System™ is unique to you. Even teams and organizations have a Results System™. Using the model will create greater self-awareness around the strengths and the detractors that impact your results and provide you with a means to make conscious choices and choose the actions that support the achievement of your key outcomes.

Call to Action

  • Are you willing to make changes to achieve the result you desire? If so, what action(s) are you willing to commit to in the next week to help you achieve this result by implementing the above principles into your life and work?
  • If you would like to learn more about how you can reveal your own Results System™ and develop strategies to create the results you desire, please reach out to me to discuss how this system can help you in all areas of your life.

Adapted from “Seven Principles of Extraordinary Results” by ThoughtAction, LLC, 2015. Adapted with permission.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

 

Ready or Not, Here It Comes…Your Retirement

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Retirement, or what I prefer to call ReIgnitement™, requires planning.  And, while many have focused attention on financial planning for retirement, few have considered the non-financial aspects of this life transition.  Transitions of any type can create stress in your life, even if the change is something that you have been looking forward to. When that transition arrives, you can react to the changes that arise such as loss of identity, work relationships, or purpose.  Or, by taking a planful approach, you can prepare yourself to respond effectively to the transition and ease the way.

In this third of a series of three blogs focused on retirement, I want to provide you with a simple tool to help you gauge your readiness for this transition. If you’re roughly 5 – 7 years from retirement, or know someone who is, please use this tool or share it with another to get a quick read on your readiness. If you’re already retired, you can use this tool to pinpoint those areas that might need some attention.

Click here for the Retirement Readiness Wheel. The 8 sections you’ll address include the following:

  • Clarity of Identity, Purpose
  • Health
  • Leisure/Travel
  • Home/Residence, Location
  • Marriage/Significant Other
  • Work/Business, Volunteering
  • Financial Resources
  • Optimism About Aging

As you review and rate each section, take a moment to determine what that section means to you. Then, to determine your readiness, circle your level of satisfaction with each of the 8 sections on a scale of 1 – 7 (1 = least satisfied, 7 = most satisfied). Go with the first response that comes to mind as you review each part of the wheel. That tends to be the one that is most indicative of the way you truly feel.

Once you’ve rated each section, draw a line connecting each of the numbers around the circle.  What kind of wheel do you have?  How smooth and balanced does it feel?  How bumpy might a ride on that wheel be?

If you discover that one or more areas of your ReIgnitement™ could use some tweaking and you’re not sure where to begin, a coach can help.  I invite you to explore my profile as well as those of my colleagues on the Retirement Coaches Association website to find a coach who is right for you. We help our clients think about and prepare for retirement like never before.

If you haven’t already downloaded the Retirement Readiness Wheel, click on the link to do so.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Is Your Organization Ready for This Seismic Shift?

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On average, 10,000 of these events will happen per day in the United States through the year 2030. What are they?

According to the Insured Retirement Institute, 10,000 baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are expected to retire, on average, each day in the United States through 2030. This is excellent news for those getting ready to enter the next chapter of their lives and an opportunity for younger workers to step into new roles. Yet, what will be the impact of that lost knowledge and expertise on your organization?

Based on research conducted by the authors of Critical Knowledge Transfer, one company reported that in the next anticipated wave of nearly 700 retirements, they would experience a loss of 27,000 years of experience.  If that’s not enough to have you sit up and take notice, I’m not sure what will. That said, not every vacated position is created equal. Some will certainly be easier to fill than others. Perhaps the appropriate level of expertise and skill is readily available on the job market or you have done the work to ensure that someone within your organization is ready to take on the role. Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Taking a Proactive Stanch – 4 Key Tips

  1. Knowing the average age of your employee population is not enough. That still keeps the potential problem at hand difficult to define. Take a closer look at the specific roles held by long-term employees and seasoned managers who are within a few years of retirement age. Which positions require critical skills and experience that are not easy to find on the open market?  Long term employees across and at all levels of the organization often hold critical, hands-on experience of how to get things done through their comprehensive knowledge of processes, company historical information, clients and customers.  Without a proactive approach, your organization runs the risk of realizing, too late, that you have a critical skill shortage that is adversely impacting your business performance.
  2. Consider implementing a mentoring program that effectively engages both older and younger workers in accelerating development and bridging the knowledge gap. Providing training for both mentors and mentees can help to ensure that a mutually beneficial mentoring relationship is created and both parties find the experience a valuable one.
  3. Utilize knowledge capture methods to gather critical expertise and make it available across a wide range of people. There are many ways to store and manage institutional knowledge including online forums, podcasts, webinars, and videos, to name a few.
  4. Pay attention to employee engagement. Younger members of the workforce have an average job stay of roughly four years.  Ensure the right managers are in place who truly care about their employees’ success. Robin Reilly, a Senior Consultant at Gallup has written that such managers “seek to understand each person’s strengths and provide employees with every opportunity to use their strengths in their role. Great managers empower their employees, recognize and value their contributions, and actively seek their ideas and opinions.” Increasing employee engagement will assist in keeping younger workers from jumping ship.

The time has come to proactively address the seismic shift that has already begun in terms of talent shortages in the workplace. These are just a few of the tips that can help you to mitigate your risk. Don’t wait another day to identify where your organization is most vulnerable and take the steps now to ensure a smoother transition.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

The Retirement Plans That Few Consider

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Most people spend more time planning their annual vacation than they spend planning for the non-financial components of their retirement. Now that increased longevity has extended the lifespan of the average North American, people can anticipate living 20 – 30 years beyond the typical retirement age of 62 or 65.  Since this is becoming known as a “second adulthood”, it deserves your time and attention to ensure that this time in your life is filled with meaning and purpose, health and well-being, and social engagement in addition to financial stability. It’s never too early to begin giving consideration to how you’d like to craft this part of your life. Here are three key tips I’d like to share that can help set you on the path to an easeful retirement transition.

  1. Create a plan well in advance

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” It is an abrupt change from working full-time to having the expanse of 24 hours a day at your fingertips. Once the glow of an extended vacation wears off, you may find yourself clamoring to find another job, if you haven’t decided in advance how you’d like to spend your time. While working in some capacity may be a part of that plan, let that be a conscious choice rather than a reaction to feeling at loose ends.  What would the perfect day or week look like for you in retirement?  Creating some level of structure goes a long way toward staying engaged.  Spend less time thinking about what you’re retiring from and more time considering what you’re retiring to.

  1. Think holistically

Financial security is a critical factor in retirement preparedness. Yet, it is far from the only thing to take into consideration. As you create your plan, look at all aspects of your life.  What is important to you?  What are the values and beliefs that provide meaning in your life? How will you sustain your mental and physical capabilities? Where will there be opportunities for connection to others? What hobbies might you want to pursue? How will you continue your personal development?  How important is it to you to give back in some way?

  1. Communicate

Be sure to include your spouse or partner in your retirement planning.  Do they work as well?  When do you both want to be retired? What do you each want out of retirement? How can you work collaboratively to create a shared vision?  What activities will you do together and where will you explore your interests on your own?  How will you divide home related chores?  How often will you see your children and grandchildren?  What expectations do family members have of one another? Having these conversations in advance and getting on the same page will relieve a potential stressor down the road.

Be proactive and make this significant transition a rewarding and fulfilling next chapter in your life.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Transformational Presence Series: Part Four: The Four Levels of Engagement

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In the final blog of this series on Transformational Presence, I’d like to share a model with you called the Four Levels of Engagement. The purpose behind this model is to bring awareness to how we ‘show up’ in relation to the daily events and circumstances we face in our personal and professional lives. This model is really just a description of what we’re all experiencing internally, all the time. When we work through this model, we’re choosing to slow down enough to see the inner workings of our level of engagement. We can take any situation or challenge and notice how we engage with it in a particular way.

To explain and demonstrate this model, let’s take a situation that we’ve likely all experienced at some point in our lives – a client or colleague who frequently is late for, misses or cancels meetings at the last minute. You are now faced with the fifth time in two months that this has occurred.

Drama

So, let’s step into the first level of engagement which is Drama. The initial internal dialogue might go something like this. “Are you kidding me?”, “What is he thinking?”, “I’m honoring the time on my calendar for him, why can’t he do the same?” That’s the level of engagement of Drama.  So, I know none of you reading this EVER goes to that place of drama, right? But, I’ll admit, sometimes, I can go to a dramatic place. So Drama is an either/or, black or white, whose fault is it, type of space. It’s a criticism or a complaint. And then, after there has been time to vent, we might start to move into another level of engagement which is Situation.

Situation

Now, Situation sounds like this. “So, I’m going to need to address this. Let me sit down and prepare and I’ll go through the 5 steps to having a difficult conversation so I can take care of this.”  Situation is about fixing the problem. It’s about getting it off my desk, moving on, getting it over with and getting it done.  Often, for a while, these situational approaches will work, as has been pointed out earlier in this series. The problem-solving done here will likely lead to an okay result but one that typically isn’t sustainable for the long haul. So, when we run into the same situation again, we look for the next solution or drop back into Drama again and then shift back into Situation.

Choice

At some point, if we’re willing to go deeper, there’s a third option that shows up where we begin to notice there’s an invitation to ask the question, “Who do I want to be in this situation?” or “How do I want to show up?” Taking this deeper perspective breaks out of Drama and Situation into Choice, which is the next level of engagement. So, as we ask ourselves those questions, the answer in this circumstance might be, “I want to be a person who is both compassionate toward my client’s (or colleague’s) competing priorities and confident that we’ll reach a solution that works for both of us.” So that is who this situation is asking for the individual to be and that’s the individual’s choice to show up that way.

Opportunity

From Choice it’s rather easy to move into the 4th level of engagement which is Opportunity. So, let’s take this same situation into Opportunity. What’s the hidden opportunity of the situation? What wants to happen or evolve out of this? So, as we step into opportunity, there is an opportunity here to evolve as a leader. A leader who not only demonstrates deep commitment and caring for clients or colleagues but also demonstrates the same level of caring and commitment to themselves. That is what wants to emerge.

Four Levels of Engagement Exercise

Now that you have a sense of each of these levels, you’re going to have a chance to play this game.  It works best if you physically stand up and step into each of the different levels.  If you remain seated, then simply choose a different spot on the floor or around the room to focus on for each level.

Bring to mind a challenging situation with a client, manager or colleague. It could be something current or from the past.

  1. Choose a spot that represents Drama.
  2. Step into the drama of your challenging situation. Close your eyes if you’d like. Really hear, in your mind, what’s happening.
  3. Notice and ask yourself “What’s going on?”

Step back to a neutral spot and repeat the steps above replacing Drama with Situation, then repeat again with Choice, and finally, with Opportunity.

Four Levels of Engagement Debrief

What did you experience? Where has your level of engagement been in past interactions with this person?

What would be different if you approached the challenge from Choice and Opportunity?

How can you apply your awareness of the Four Levels of Engagement in your life and work starting today?

I invite you to share what you discover in the Comments section.

Summary

When we engage with the events and circumstances of life primarily from Drama and Situation, we spend our time primarily on struggle and problem-solving. It can be that feeling of putting out one fire after another. Ultimately, this can be exhausting. On the other hand, when we engage with life mostly from Choice and Opportunity, we step into a powerful place. We are no longer buffeted about by circumstances and choose how we want to respond and focus on the potential that wants to emerge.  I invite you to apply the Four Levels of Engagement model in your own life and see what happens.

If you missed the earlier parts of this series, please click here for Navigating a Complex World, here for Part One – The Three Questions, here for Part Two – Becoming Mindful, and here for Part Three – Working with What Is.

For more information about Transformational Presence, please visit: www.transformationalpresence.org

Derived from: Seale, Alan. Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World and Transformational Presence: The Tools, Skills and Frameworks. Topsfield, MA: The Center for Transformational Presence, 2017. Used with permission.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Transformational Presence Series: Part Three: Working with What Is

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When was the last time you were faced with a difficult situation or circumstance at home or at work and the first thing that came to mind was “how can I fix this”?  If you’re like most people, this has probably occurred more than once just in the past week. In fact, being a great problem-solver is encouraged, valued and what we are taught to do. Honestly, this is one of my own strengths and I have loved the satisfaction of “solving problems”.  Yet, as discussed in previous posts, fixing the problem doesn’t tend to work for the long term.  Often, the problem will arise again somewhere down the road. What if, as Alan Seale states, “a problem is not something to be solved; it’s a message to be listened to”?

Our role then would be to learn how to hear the message, discover what wants to unfold, and work in partnership with that potential to create something new. Quantum physics tells us that, at the most basic level, everything is made up of particles of moving, vibrating energy. Consequently, there is an energy that exists within any situation or circumstance. One of the fundamental principles of Transformational Presence is that “energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed”. Solving the problem typically doesn’t transform the energy and this is the reason that the same or similar problem reemerges.

When we are faced with what we would call a problem, we tend to “push against” it and often end up making it worse. When we “push against”, we focus on what’s not working and give more power to it, causing it to persist. If we accept whatever situation we are faced with and flow with it, rather than push against it, things start to get easier.  “Flowing with” is about focusing on what wants to happen or emerge from the circumstance.  It doesn’t mean we have to like what’s going on.  It also doesn’t mean that we are acquiescing to it. We are just acknowledging what is happening right now and partnering with what wants to emerge to discover our next steps.  Using the Three Fundamental Questions from Part One of this series will help you identify those next steps.

Taking this perspective is something that requires practice and continual reminders.  I find that “pushing against” a circumstance is often my initial reaction. Yet, continued practice, allows me to step back, “flow with” and respond.

If you’d like to explore this concept of “push against/flow with” in relation to a challenge you are facing, please click below and I will walk you through an exercise so that you can experience it for yourself.  I invite you to share what you discover in the Comments section.

If you missed the earlier parts of this series, please click here for Navigating a Complex World, here for Part One – The Three Questions and here for Part Two – Becoming Mindful.

For more information about Transformational Presence, please visit: www.transformationalpresence.org

Derived from: Seale, Alan. Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World and Transformational Presence: The Tools, Skills and Frameworks. Topsfield, MA: The Center for Transformational Presence, 2017. Used with permission.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Transformational Presence Series: Part Two – Becoming Mindful

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What does becoming mindful mean to you? We hear so much now about mindfulness and know that it is being practiced by an ever widening array of people including doctors, dancers, business executives, athletes, students, parents, professionals, etc. For good reason. Both science and experience have shown the positive impact of becoming more mindful on all aspects of our lives, both at work and at home.  Definitions of mindfulness vary but all seem to coalesce around similar themes. Mindful magazine defines mindfulness as “being fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us”.

This ability to be present with whatever is happening right now, rather than fretting about the past or worrying about the future is one key to navigating a complex world. To develop Transformational Presence, starting a practice of becoming mindful provides an excellent foundation. To get you started, I invite you to listen to my recording of the Becoming Mindful exercise. In less than 5 minutes, you’ll have an opportunity to be still, take a pause, and listen and notice in a new way.

Come back to this as often as you can.  The more that you practice, the easier it will become and the more benefit you will derive from it. It can be helpful, especially in the beginning, to do this exercise several times per day – perhaps in the morning, at mid-day, and again in the evening. Create consistency in your practice from day to day. Over time, you will begin to notice that your ability to stay present, to respond rather than react, and to sense into what wants to happen next will expand.

Consider experimenting with using this mindfulness practice in conjunction with The Three Questions from Part One of this series.  Notice how the quality of your responses starts to change as you become more present and centered.

Please click below to listen to the Becoming Mindful exercise and I invite you to share your progress in the Comments section.

If you missed the earlier parts of this series, please click here for Navigating a Complex World and here for Part One – The Three Questions.

For more information about Transformational Presence, please visit: www.transformationalpresence.org

Derived from: Seale, Alan. Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World and Transformational Presence: The Tools, Skills and Frameworks. Topsfield, MA: The Center for Transformational Presence, 2017. Used with permission.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Transformational Presence Series: Part One – The Three Questions

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Our last blog was focused on Alan Seale’s Transformational Presence approach to leadership and its application to navigating a complex world. If you missed it, please click here.  In that post, we announced a four-part series dedicated to exploring a tool or framework of Transformational Presence in each of the next four months.  Read on for Part One.

The Three Questions

Let’s start with a focus on the three foundational questions upon which the Transformational Presence approach is built.
1. What wants to happen?
2. Who is that asking me to be?
3. What is that asking me to do?

On the surface, these seem like pretty simple questions. Yet, the beauty of these simple questions is their power to tap into our heart intelligence. Too often, we rely solely on our intellect which is incredibly good at analyzing situations, solving problems and keeping us safe. Our heart intelligence is more visionary.  It can take in the big picture and show us the next step to take. One is not better than the other – which is a huge relief to me since I’ve spent most of my life relying primarily on my head. It’s using the head and heart intelligence in concert with one another that is the key.  Incorporating our heart intelligence helps to break through overwhelm and complexity and find an element of clarity that can show us the way forward.

A Discovery Process

Let’s take a brief look at each of these questions.

When we ask “What wants to happen?”, we’re open to discovering what the shift might be that wants to take place or what the opportunity or breakthrough is that is waiting to emerge. We are recognizing that there is a message in the situation or circumstance we are faced with and that something “wants to happen” or evolve.

As we look at question #2, “Who is that asking me to be?”, we are exploring how we choose to “show up” in relationship to “what wants to happen”. What are the qualities and personal attributes that we want to express?  For example, this might mean being more playful, forthright, resilient, open, etc.

“What is that asking me to do?” is our action question. Rather than this being a question where we try to figure out what to do next, instead we are inviting “what wants to happen” to reveal the next step to us. Then, after we take that next step, we go back to question 1 and repeat the cycle.

While we navigate the complexity of our world, we typically go directly to the third question and try to figure out what actions we need to take and how will we execute on them.  Yet, if we begin to consider that every situation or circumstance we encounter might have a message for us, we can start to develop a new approach.  No longer is it reasonable to plan far out into the future. Our world is changing too quickly for that. Instead, if we apply these three questions to everything that we do, we can be shown the way, one step at a time.

An Exercise to Get You Started

Here is an exercise that Alan shared with us in our recent Transformational Presence – Leadership in Action course. I invite you to experiment with this as a means to begin applying this approach to your own life and work.

  • Bring to mind an opportunity available to you, personally, or to your company or business right now.  Then, ask yourself The Three Questions. Really listen, sense and feel the answers that come.  This is a no judgment zone – let whatever experience you have with these questions be okay.  It does take practice to quiet our minds so that our heart can be heard.

Then, please feel free to share your experience with us in the comments section.  And, if you’d like to learn more, you can purchase Alan Seale’s book here.

Derived from: Seale, Alan. Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World. Topsfield, MA: The Center for Transformational Presence, 2017. Used with permission.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

Navigating a Complex World

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Our world is becoming increasingly complex and the ability to navigate ambiguity is now, more than ever, a critical leadership and life skill. We all have challenges we face throughout our life and work. Often, we react by focusing on finding someone or something to blame for our circumstances.  Then, if we can move beyond that initial reaction, we bring our skills and knowledge to bear, look for ways to fix the problem, put a plan of action together, and execute on a solution.  Our goal is to get the problem off our desks so that we can move on to the next item on our to-do list.

In some cases, this approach will work, at least for a little while.  Yet, many times, the same circumstance will arise again a few weeks or months down the road.  We find ourselves solving the same problem over and over again.  Our complex world cries out for a new approach. Alan Seale, master teacher and mentor, and the founder of the Center for Transformational Presence, offers an approach to leadership that helps us to navigate this rapidly changing world in powerful ways.

According to Alan, “Transformational Presence is not a model or a formula. It’s a way of living, leading, and serving – an approach that provides a strong foundation for conscious living and conscious leadership. Transformational Presence is also a practical set of skills that, when developed together, build and expand our capacities for awareness, understanding, perception, and effective action – capacities that are essential for navigating today’s rapidly changing world.”

I have had the privilege of attending several of Alan’s workshops and programs over the last decade.  Most recently, I attended the Transformational Presence Leadership in Action program in Connecticut. We explored the latest tools and frameworks from Alan’s most recent books, a two part set: Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference in a Rapidly Changing World and its companion, Transformational Presence – The Tools, Skills and Frameworks. During those days, we had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in applying the work to our own circumstances and challenges.  I came away with a renewed commitment to fully integrate Transformational Presence approaches in my own life and in my work with individual clients and organizations.

When I was first introduced to this work, eight or so years ago, I have to admit that it felt a little foreign to me.  After years of working in large corporations, I had developed a strong set of skills that allowed me to solve problems and execute on goals. While I longed for what the Transformational Presence approach offered, I wasn’t quite ready to take it on board.  My logical mind was a little bit skeptical about whether I could actually see myself using the skills and tools with my clients.  Yet, something has continued calling me to this work and in the last couple of years, there has been no denying that Transformational Presence will allow my clients and me to make the kind of difference in this world that we long to make.

To support Alan Seale in his mission to share this work, the next four blog posts will each focus on one tool or framework of Transformational Presence. As we start off the tool series in our next post, we will explore the three foundational questions of Transformational Presence:
1. What wants to happen?
2. Who is that asking me to be?
3. What is that asking me to do?

Please stay tuned over the next few months as we explore a few selected components of Transformational Presence.  No matter what your role, if you are interested in helping to create a world that works, this will get you started.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development and Career Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.