Reshaping Your Career: Strategies to Unlocking Your Working Identity

What does it actually take to develop your career? Do you ever get the feeling that you are destined to do bigger things beyond your job? Or perhaps you do know what but you are not sure where to start? Maybe you’re afraid of the unknown or leaving where you are comfortable. So you continue doing the same things because you are not sure of what to do next and how to deal with these uncertainties?

Purpose of this Article

This LinkedIn article is meant to explore the mental journeys and tactical actions of career transitions reveal strategies for making successful career changes and encourage us to take bold actions toward pursuing meaningful work. It is designed to illustrate an important lesson within any change process which can include identity change. Specifically, advancing your career is not only changing jobs but an opportunity to reprioritize your habits and “working identity” into the person you already are or the person you want to become.

This post is inspired by Herminia Ibarra ’s book Working Identity (check out the updated edition) in which she explains our working identity(ies), and the process of discovering our various selves (identities) in order to explore multiple career opportunities at a time when we feel stuck, demotivated, drained, unfulfilled, and unhappy.

Having gone through an identity change myself when I completed my first Triathlon, I have been exploring the subject of “identity” as it relates mainly to (but not solely) careers. This is based on analyzing the psychological and behavioral experiences of working with over 2,000 high-performers spanning various industries, ages, and experiences to find meaningful work. The notion of identity shift remains the same across all stages of career.

*NOTE - I define High-Performers are professionals who have invested a lot of time, energy and money in their current careers.

Additionally, this is a long overdue action item (aka Project C-) from my leadership coach David Acker . Better late than never :)

My Story

Although I’m not unique, this past year I was looking to put myself outside my comfort zone by signing up and training for my first triathlon. I was looking to challenge and push myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. In my fitness journey, I’ve swum (but not competitively nor in the ocean), rode a bike (when I was 10 years old) and ran races (felt pretty solid about this one). However, I had not completed them all together nor really had any experience swimming or riding for that length of time. Needless to say I was diving into the deep end….literally.

Like any good coach, the first thing I did was find myself a coach to help train me, build my cardio engine, and teach me all the things I didn’t know (which was a lot) about competing in a triathlon. Ok so that’s not true. In typical “Phillip Fashion”, the first thing I did was talk about doing it for MONTHS until my girlfriend lovingly shouted, “Oh my God. Stop talking about and just sign up for a freaking race!!”. It was the exact push I needed.

Anyways, prior to May 2023 I really didn’t know how to 2 out of the 3 activities required to complete a triathlon. I knew how to run but how to bike or swim and 1 out of 3 doesn’t really work. So for months, my coach programmed me long workouts which included 3-5 hours on the bike, 1-2 hours in the pool, and 90-minute runs every week. This training took months and it was difficult, tiring, and exciting all at the same time. With every workout, I was literally becoming the person I wanted to be. Every time I jumped in the pool, got up at 6:00 AM for a bike ride, or laced up my running shoes, I was making a “deposit” into my future identity. I was becoming a triathlete.

*NOTE - This is a concept called Identity-Based habits by James Clear

Long story short, I completed my 1st Triathlon in September 2023 in Santa Cruz, California. My overall goal was to finish but my secondary goal was to finish in under 3 hours. Of which I completed it in 2 hours in 55 minutes. Honored to have finished it, I proved to myself I could do something beyond what I was capable of when I set my mind to it and put in the work. The journey to completing my first triathlon required months of dedication, discipline, patience, and so much support.

So why do I tell you all of this? Well….

It All Comes Back to Identity Change

Reshaping our careers starts with a degree of self-awareness (this concept of self-awareness is something my friend Tim Hagen has built his entire organization around). As we become more self-aware of our current self, we begin the process of rediscovering ourselves and its many dimensions and variations.

In Hermaina’s book, she describes that:

Working identity change is grounded on the premise that changing our identity and subsequently our career is not a direct leap “from a desire for change to a single decision that will complete our reinvention,” rather it’s an uncovering process that takes times and patience.

Most hit this point of “what got them here won't get them there” in which their skills, successes, and identity that made them successful cannot be effectively applied in getting them into their perceived next stage. For some this process is rediscovering who they already once they’ve removed and come to terms with the stresses of a toxic or misaligned work environment. For others, it is a declaration of priorities in embarking on a process of going after what they’ve always wanted. Finally, there is a group that has become out of touch with their identities and seeking to become a new person entirely.

Consequently, all of these individuals, have chosen to place themselves in a situation that forces them to stretch and take actions counter to where they’ve previously been. It requires them to dig deep into what truly makes them who they are and figure out a way to honor and protect in the face of adversity. The process of “acting” by trying out many possibilities, and exploring multiple opportunities and interests, by experimenting and exposing ourselves to new worlds, new people and new roles to uncover our new working identity is what I argue is critical to any meaningful change process.

The Argument & Strategies for Consistent Bold Exploration

As an executive and career coach, helping people dig into “makes them them” is fantastic. Additionally, with the help of a coach, we help them break down the larger goal into tactful actions toward their career change and ultimately towards their new identity. Thus, the result of becoming a new person doesn’t occur by solely filling out worksheets and completing the assessment (i.e. the results are not instant) rather it is a process of ongoing actions.

These “stretch assignments” are a key part of the discovery stage of the career change process and where the majority of the tactful actions take place. I argue that to get extraordinary results (i.e. results these individuals didn’t think were possible or were deemed out of reach) bold consistent action must be taken. Specifically, to achieve results the no one else gets one must think about the journey beyond a job change into an identity change.

In turn, here are the 6 stages of consistently taking bold actions in the Working Identity process:

1. Embracing Your Curiosity - Stop waiting for inspiration and lean into the randomness of exploration
2. Identify Small Project or Actions - Whether this be one conversation or one project, understand how and why this leads to your larger goal
3. Create a System - As James Clear says, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
4. Find Communities and Human Connections - Search for others who can support and encourage you in your new endeavors
5. Allow Yourself a Transition Period - Know that this is a process and is not easy so be patient with yourself. Rome was not built in a day.
6. Take the Leap - There will come a decision point when all your hard work comes and you’ll need to decide to embrace the new person you’ve become or continue to be a prisoner of your old patterns

For example, what this can look like for most individuals is creating content (i.e. blog, vlog, etc.) and/or connecting with target contacts in new and different ways. These bold actions can feel edgy, exciting, and even terrifying and come with the great risk of being rejected or ignored. However, if done effectively, they can come with the great benefit of obtaining something that was perceived to be out of reach.

*NOTE - Each individual has a different threshold for risk; however, this is not advocating pivoting too sharply and endangering the well-being of the individual. Bold action is subjective and should be treated as such.

As HR & recruiting teams streamline and consolidate their hiring processes (i.e. applicate tracking systems) and more online tools like LinkedIn make it easy for individuals to hide behind a profile, bolder actions and genuine human connections become an extremely effective tool to stand out from other individuals.

TL;DR

The key is to stand out for a successful career change and do it through consistent actions that are congruent with the person you want to get hired as.

Simply put, if you are not willing to take bold action (or to be seen) then you can’t get the extraordinary job. Everything you want in life is on the other side of discomfort.

Let’s connect and would love to hear if/how I can help you in your leadership and career development journey >> https://calendly.com/pmigyanko/help