How Effective Communication of YOUR Career Journey Can Propel YOU Forward

We are almost at the end of our Group Mentoring program with only one session left to go. This week's topic was... Powerful Career Stories.

As I reflected on that challenge... it is no small task to tell YOUR story with a balance of inspiration... authenticity and humbleness that everyone in your audience can relate to.... no matter where YOU are in YOUR journey.

Chutes and Ladders

I have to admit... that depending on when YOU met me in my career... I may not have handled this challenge as well as I would like to think I would today.

As I have blogged about previously... our journey can be like the game of "Chutes and Ladders" . So if I was riding high on "ladders" I may have been more eager to tell YOU about how GREAT my career has been and wanting to dwell on my accomplishments. To be honest... in those moments... I most likely alienated more people than I inspired.

Having experienced some "Chutes" along the way... I now believe I can tell my career story more objectively where hopefully everyone can see a little bit of themselves in it.

5 Tips for Telling YOUR Powerful Career Story

So.... if YOU ever get invited to talk about your career journey to inspire others... here are a few tips to guide YOU...

• Know YOUR audience. YOUR career story is not "one size fits all". What YOU choose to highlight and how you tell it can vary depending on the audience. For example...speaking to a group of executives who are at the VP level and looking to get to the C-suite will have different inspirational needs than those starting out in their career who are looking to take next steps
• It's about THEM...not YOU. Building on "Know YOUR audience"... it's important to sprinkle in stories that everyone can relate to...where they can see themselves in the story. In your preparation for the session...find out what the mentees have been learning about...care about... or are looking to know more about
• Be Mindful of Cultural Differences and Backgrounds. Not everyone comes to the table with your "lens". It can be easy to get SO wrapped up in YOUR story that YOU forget not everyone can relate. Incorporate moments to connect with your diverse audience and recognize that YOU see them... even if YOU don't have all the answers in YOUR journey
• Not Everyone Wants the Career YOU Have. One of the biggest mistakes I made in previous iterations of ME when telling my story was focusing ONLY on my career accomplishments. Not everyone wants to be in the C-Suite... some want to achieve work/life integration... or switch careers to something they are more passionate about. Talk about what YOU learned and less about what you achieved for in there lies the nuggets of truth most everyone can learn from too
• Make it Personal. WE all need to feel comfortable bringing our WHOLE selves to work. It's important to give some perspective on YOUR personal life...your hobbies...your values...your hopes...your fears... this is all part of YOUR journey and story. Our career over the decades is made up of a series of life events and people which also shape our choices. It is not "sterile" or disconnected so allow others to understand those impacts too

In Closing...

Even though we spend a lot of time in career story telling on where we have been... it is also interesting to talk about the road ahead.

One of my favorite ways to position this is based on a question one of my executive coaches challenged me with...

If I could wave a magic wand and you woke up tomorrow with the career YOU always dreamed of...what does YOUR life look like? Are YOU happy? What is important to YOU? Is there anything after that?

It's ok...and it's encouraged to talk about our aspirations. I believe that saying it out loud makes it more real and a commitment to yourself rather than quietly letting it rattle around in your head. It also helps to acknowledge if your "dream" is really what you want and talk about what you might need to trade off or give up along the way to achieve it. (Check out a few thoughts on this in my blog "What Defines Success for YOU")

The balance we all face in speaking about what's next... is not alienating others or coming across as arrogant. We ALL need help along the way so enlisting others and inspiring them to "come with you" as opposed to "squishing them along the way" is key.

Armed with all of this to think about.... How would YOU tell YOUR Powerful career story? I am going to give a lot more thought to mine.

Leadership Questions of the Week for YOU:

• When was the last time you heard someone talk about their Career Story? Did it leave you feeling inspired or alienated?
• Have YOU ever shared YOUR career journey with others? Do YOU think how you would tell it is different than previous iterations of YOU?
• What do YOU think about the 5 tips above? What would you add or change?
• What are YOUR thoughts about not only talking about the past but also about the future? What tips do YOU have for positioning your aspirations without doing more damage than good?

Thanks for reading….and remember…YOU make a difference!

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