Busy lives and the inexorable pressure of the billable hour make finding time and space for career planning challenging at best, and seemingly impossible at worst. But the experience of our clients is that making time to clarify objectives and define goals in turn improves performance and client focus.
Invariably sessions during the Milestones programme are in the client’s office but we also know that getting away from the office, and out of a suit and tie, helps clear the mind. When we embark on the Visioning stage of the programme – an opportunity for the individual to look to the future and imagine the next phase of their career – we typically find an activity that will engage the individual and allow them to free wheel a bit, and consider future career options without constraint.
Recently, Iain Morpeth and Tim Musgrave climbed Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. A chance for them to catch up, and enjoy a day away from the pressure of practice, but also an important opportunity to reflect on how the first stage of the programme had gone and what should now follow.
As Iain commented,
Despite fitting it around a busy client driven diary, I am really pleased to have made time to complete a focused career management programme well in advance of any possible retirement date. Planning ahead like this has given me confidence in a range of possibilities outside private practice, some of which I wouldn’t have previously considered viable, and more focus on the positive legacy I want to leave behind.
This stage, when the individual reaches a good place in their thinking around transition, is always one of the most enjoyable and satisfying points in the programme. Hillwalking may not be for everyone but our clients have done some other fascinating things over the years, from acrobatic flying to cooking with Theo Randall to horse whispering. Each of us has our own passions, and it can be liberating to explore them.
Career planning may seem like an indulgence that can be put off to tomorrow, but the benefits of getting ahead of the game are compelling. And sometimes it can be fun!