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For a coach working with senior executives who have many years of experience in different posts and organisations there often comes a point early in the discussion when it becomes clear that the issue is not just about a particular task or current job challenge.
The exploratory phase begins to reveal a wider sense of 'what am I doing here?' and 'do I really enjoy what I am doing?'. We all ask ourselves these questions from time to time (hopefully) but sometimes these questions become a persistent interference getting in the way of the job.
Sometimes this sense of unease is not explicit but begins to surface from the implicit as the discussion begins to evolve.
Often what we begin to find is that there is a loss of connection and alignment between three very important and personal elements:
- the job well done
- the career well spent
- the life well lived
In focussing purely on a succession of jobs well done we can risk losing sight of what the other two might mean for us. Too much divergence and dissonance builds up, creating real interference in commitment, achievement and enjoyment.
One CE had been through 7 significant organisational reconfigurations in 13 years. He had started out full of enthusiasm for the policies, opportunities and challenges. He saw the way that benefits might be delivered to patients and staff. He was proud of the difference his organisation could make to the lives of ordinary people in his area.
Several reconfigurations later he had become an expert on organisational transition - closing down one and leading and managing the processes to create the new organisation - he was proud of his adaptability and the skills he had acquired. He expected to be able to survive and thrive in complex political environments.
However as more reconfigurations followed he began to find he got less and less out of the process of change. He had become expert at the job of responding to new government policies and reconfiguration but was finding less satisfaction in the job and had less energy for the challenge. He was also less interesting to work with and for, becoming more withdrawn and cynical.
Work had become a series of jobs well done (expertly indeed) but when he stood back what he discovered was that the dissonance he felt was driven by a disconnect between the 'job well done' and the 'career well spent' - and indeed there was a risk that if the disconnect continued for much longer it might begin to interfere with some of the base characteristics of what he considered 'a life well lived'.
From this point of self awareness he was able to create a personal 'refresh' plan which allowed him to begin to reconnect and realign the three components.
For coaches the challenge is helping the individual recognise this and creating the safe and constructive context for it to be addressed. For the executive performance coach the challenge is to help the individual bring this full cycle to clear evidence of performance improvement in the job - whatever that job might turn out to be.
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