When a particularly successful career comes to an end, clients can struggle to find new meaning for themselves. Coaching can help redefine that meaning
When a senior leader or very high achiever is obliged, or has chosen, to move on from the peak of their career, the loss can be as challenging and unsettling as a bereavement.
This arises when an individual is moving towards retirement after a career of exceptional success, fulfilment and sometimes public recognition for their accomplishments. It can occur when someone knows they’re coming to the end of their working life because of their age or stage, or simply when no longer delivering peak performance dictates the end, as is the case with sportspeople, for example.
A sense of identity, of belonging, of meaning, and the knowledge that we’re making a difference, are all key aspects of successful working lives because they underpin motivation and fulfilment. All of them are in the spotlight when a career is about to end or change. The individual may struggle with a sense of place, of value, of perspective and of purpose. They may question who they are and what is going to give their life structure: these become literally existential questions.
I see clients struggling with wanting to leave a legacy of their stellar achievements by wanting those who follow to do things as they have done them: because they want their achievements to sustain, it’s very hard for them to contemplate a risk to those achievements by handing on to others with different approaches.
I’ve worked with clients who could benefit from learning how to coach and develop their successors but who are so anxious about the risk to outcomes and so uncomfortable about losing control that it’s challenging for them to do anything other than ‘telling’, which of course diminishes development.
When I’ve been in danger of getting bogged down in the detail that troubles them, I’ve discovered that it can be infinitely more fruitful to facilitate them to step back (sometimes literally) and look systemically at their challenge, to experiment with different perspectives, to detach from the emotion while still acknowledging its presence and impact – and to look in the other direction at what alternatives their own future can offer them. This isn’t necessarily easy work.
I work with clients, too, whose careers have featured world-beating accomplishments, with pinnacles of success defined by public recognition and accolades. They need to find a way to redirect their drive and ambition, and I’ve found it useful to work with them to redefine their sense of meaning, understand how they can re-apply their skills and talents, their wisdom and knowledge, and their networks and influence to a different context, and to broaden their palette of activities and interests.
In short, to recreate their sense of self.
KEY REFLECTIONS
- When a very high achiever is obliged, or has chosen, to move on from the peak of their career, the experience can be akin to bereavement.
- A sense of identity, of belonging, of meaning, and knowing they’re making a difference come under the spotlight when a career is about to end or change.
- The loss of purpose and the uncertain sense of identity can be difficult to navigate.
- It can be fruitful to facilitate the client to step back (sometimes literally) and look systemically at their challenge.
- They need to recreate their sense of self.
- Lindsay Wittenberg is director of Lindsay Wittenberg Ltd. She is an executive coach who specialises in authentic leadership, career development and cross-cultural coaching
- www.lindsaywittenberg.co.uk