Latest / A Little Bit Richer / Why You Need To Forget The Career Ladder
Transcript
- 0:01Iona Bain: Hi, I am Iona Bain and welcome to A Little
- 0:04Iona Bain: Bit Richer, brought to you by L& G. Now there
- 0:07Iona Bain: can be pressure to get ahead in your career to earn
- 0:09Iona Bain: more money and push for promotions. We can see competition
- 0:12Iona Bain: from all angles and it can be hard to build
- 0:15Iona Bain: the confidence to succeed, but we might be thinking too
- 0:19Iona Bain: linear. So here today to talk us through why we
- 0:21Iona Bain: need to reconsider our career opportunities is Helen Tupper. Helen
- 0:26Iona Bain: and her co- founder Sarah Ellis started the award- winning
- 0:29Iona Bain: company, Amazing If. They work with companies like Microsoft, Levi's,
- 0:34Iona Bain: BBC, Danone, and Visa to support people with the skills
- 0:38Iona Bain: to succeed in a squiggly career. Together, they're the authors
- 0:42Iona Bain: of two Sunday Times bestsellers, The Squiggly Coach, and You
- 0:46Iona Bain: Coach You. And their TEDx Talk, The Best Career Path
- 0:49Iona Bain: Isn't Always a Straight Line has been watched by almost
- 0:52Iona Bain: 2 million people. Welcome, Helen.
- 0:55Helen Tupper: Thank you so much.
- 0:56Iona Bain: My generation has often been told that if we work
- 1:00Iona Bain: hard, then we can achieve success by climbing that career
- 1:04Iona Bain: ladder. Is that true? And if not, why not?
- 1:09Helen Tupper: There's a few things to unpack there. So work hard,
- 1:12Helen Tupper: achieve success. I think what we might need to challenge
- 1:15Helen Tupper: is what success means. So what the career ladder has
- 1:18Helen Tupper: presented is that success equals seniority. And the promise is
- 1:23Helen Tupper: if you show up, you work hard, you'll go up
- 1:25Helen Tupper: this mythical ladder and you'll be happy because success is
- 1:27Helen Tupper: being senior and that's possible for everybody. And there are
- 1:30Helen Tupper: two really big challenges with that assumption. So the first
- 1:33Helen Tupper: is that everybody is motivated by becoming more senior, and
- 1:36Helen Tupper: the second is that promotions are possible for everybody just
- 1:39Helen Tupper: as a result of working hard. And the reality is
- 1:42Helen Tupper: that people are motivated by different things. Some people want
- 1:46Helen Tupper: to stay in the job that they're in and grow
- 1:48Helen Tupper: in that job and feel a sense of achievement and
- 1:50Helen Tupper: connection to the work that they already do. Some people
- 1:53Helen Tupper: want to experiment and learn by developing in different directions,
- 1:56Helen Tupper: and some people do want to become more senior, but
- 1:59Helen Tupper: what we have created is a construct where that freedom
- 2:03Helen Tupper: isn't really allowed. And so people feel like they're failing
- 2:07Helen Tupper: if they want to stay where they are or they
- 2:08Helen Tupper: feel like they're doing the development wrong if they want
- 2:11Helen Tupper: to take a sideways move. And so we need to
- 2:14Helen Tupper: redefine what career success looks like for people and make
- 2:18Helen Tupper: different answers okay. And also presenting this idea of the
- 2:22Helen Tupper: career ladder where promotions are possible for everybody also doesn't
- 2:25Helen Tupper: reflect the reality. They just are not that many promotions for
- 2:28Helen Tupper: people and so it's a bit of a false promise.
- 2:31Iona Bain: And so does this situation create that feeling within a
- 2:34Iona Bain: lot of people that they're not good enough? How important
- 2:37Iona Bain: is confidence in all this?
- 2:39Helen Tupper: Well, there are many moments that matter in careers, and
- 2:42Helen Tupper: one of them are the conversations we have with people
- 2:44Helen Tupper: about our development. So if you are my manager and
- 2:47Helen Tupper: you are asking me, " Helen, where do you see yourself
- 2:49Helen Tupper: in the next five years?" And I think, " Well, the
- 2:52Helen Tupper: only acceptable answer is to become more senior."
- 2:55Iona Bain: It always feels like a trick question, doesn't it?
- 2:57Helen Tupper: It's a really ladderlike question and it creates quite a lot of pressure on
- 3:01Helen Tupper: somebody to come up with the right answer. And I
- 3:04Helen Tupper: think that is the moment where people's confidence gremlins grow.
- 3:07Helen Tupper: So they might think, "Well, I don't really know what I
- 3:09Helen Tupper: really want to do, but I feel like I have
- 3:11Helen Tupper: to say something so that you think that I care
- 3:13Helen Tupper: about my career and I'm being ambitious." Rather than a
- 3:16Helen Tupper: confident conversation, which might sound like, " Actually there are quite
- 3:20Helen Tupper: a few different opportunities I'm interested in. What's most important
- 3:23Helen Tupper: to me is..." I'd love to talk to you about
- 3:27Helen Tupper: where those learning opportunities might be. And these open curious
- 3:32Helen Tupper: conversations unlock lots more opportunity, but they do require confidence
- 3:36Helen Tupper: from the individual and slightly different questions in career conversations.
- 3:42Helen Tupper: It works best when somebody's got self- awareness and confidence
- 3:46Helen Tupper: in their career, but the conversations that they're having with
- 3:49Helen Tupper: their managers and their mentors and people in positions of
- 3:52Helen Tupper: influence are not ladderlike.
- 3:54Iona Bain: So what are the things that maybe we should be
- 3:57Iona Bain: thinking about a little bit more when we're having those conversations?
- 4:01Helen Tupper: There are some what we call squiggly swaps. So there
- 4:04Helen Tupper: are ladderlike words that creep into conversations which will limit
- 4:07Helen Tupper: people's development. So for example, a conversation centered on my
- 4:11Helen Tupper: job title. Something that's much more squiggly is to talk
- 4:14Helen Tupper: about talents. So where do I get my energy? What
- 4:17Helen Tupper: do I want to be known for? How can I
- 4:19Helen Tupper: use that more much bigger, better conversation? We talk about
- 4:22Helen Tupper: talents. Talents take people a lot further than job titles
- 4:27Helen Tupper: do. Next one would be about sort of levels. So
- 4:29Helen Tupper: ladderlike conversations often about levels and grades, squiggly conversations center
- 4:35Helen Tupper: much more on learning. What do you want to learn?
- 4:37Helen Tupper: They center much more on growth. What does growth look
- 4:39Helen Tupper: like for you over the next 12 months? You don't
- 4:42Helen Tupper: have to have all the answers, but I don't want people
- 4:44Helen Tupper: to have the answers because I want them to be
- 4:46Helen Tupper: curious and open. Having that awareness about yourself and your
- 4:50Helen Tupper: career means that you are not predetermining the conversation, which I think
- 4:55Helen Tupper: when people go, " I want to get promoted." The conversation's
- 4:57Helen Tupper: predetermined. And if that promotion isn't possible, the conversation doesn't go
- 5:02Helen Tupper: much further.
- 5:03Iona Bain: There is a big challenge to this though, which is
- 5:06Iona Bain: that titles and levels and grades matter to a lot
- 5:10Iona Bain: of people because they bring more pay. And that is
- 5:14Iona Bain: incredibly important, especially right now where people feel that their
- 5:17Iona Bain: incomes really need to rise. So what would your response
- 5:22Iona Bain: to that be? How do we get people to think
- 5:24Iona Bain: about getting a good income but also learning more?
- 5:28Helen Tupper: So there's sort of a short- term, long- term payoff
- 5:32Helen Tupper: thing going on here. So in the short term, I
- 5:35Helen Tupper: might want a job that pays me more. So in the
- 5:37Helen Tupper: short term, I think we just have to be a
- 5:39Helen Tupper: bit careful of the assumption that the only way I'm
- 5:41Helen Tupper: going to get paid more is to get promoted. So often
- 5:44Helen Tupper: there is movement within a grade or a level. Sometimes
- 5:47Helen Tupper: a horizontal move into another function can also unlock pay.
- 5:51Helen Tupper: It doesn't always have to be promotion. So I would
- 5:53Helen Tupper: explore that, I would get curious. The long term is
- 5:56Helen Tupper: that it is likely that learning will unlock more opportunities for
- 6:01Helen Tupper: your career. So you might think, " Well, how does learning
- 6:05Helen Tupper: a new skill right now help me get paid more
- 6:08Helen Tupper: next week?" It might not to be honest, but what
- 6:11Helen Tupper: it will help you with is next year, the next
- 6:13Helen Tupper: couple of years, you will have more roles that are
- 6:16Helen Tupper: available to you. And the more choice you have, the
- 6:18Helen Tupper: more control you have and the more you can push
- 6:20Helen Tupper: for the pay that's important. So I do think you've
- 6:23Helen Tupper: got to balance short- term conversations about pay progression and long-
- 6:28Helen Tupper: term learning that will create dividends for your development in
- 6:32Helen Tupper: other ways, 2, 3, 4 years hence.
- 6:35Iona Bain: Yes. It sounds like you're talking about an environment in
- 6:37Iona Bain: which people don't have to be loyal to their employer.
- 6:41Iona Bain: Do we need to be thinking a bit more sideways
- 6:43Iona Bain: in terms of looking at what's available elsewhere?
- 6:45Helen Tupper: I want everyone to have the freedom and flexibility to
- 6:48Helen Tupper: develop in the direction that's right for them. We call
- 6:49Helen Tupper: it squiggle and stay. So we want individuals to have
- 6:52Helen Tupper: the awareness to work out what is the right direction
- 6:54Helen Tupper: for me to develop and we want organizations to provide
- 6:57Helen Tupper: more than promotions to make that possible. So I think
- 6:59Helen Tupper: really, whether it's inside an organization or outside an organization,
- 7:03Helen Tupper: I don't want people to feel stuck. I think the
- 7:06Helen Tupper: power of the employer over the employee has changed. I
- 7:10Helen Tupper: think people do have more choices now, but that only
- 7:14Helen Tupper: comes when they take control. You have to invest in
- 7:16Helen Tupper: your learning. It's what makes you valuable, it what makes you
- 7:19Helen Tupper: remain relevant and resilient in your career. I think you
- 7:21Helen Tupper: also just have to have that awareness and confidence in
- 7:23Helen Tupper: talking about your career, in talking about your skills. That
- 7:27Helen Tupper: is what gives you that choice and that control.
- 7:29Iona Bain: So who can we look to for support in developing
- 7:33Iona Bain: ourselves in our careers?
- 7:34Helen Tupper: So in ladderlike careers, we often look to our manager
- 7:38Helen Tupper: as the guru of good advice, the gateway for our
- 7:41Helen Tupper: growth. And what happens if you don't have a great
- 7:44Helen Tupper: manager, suddenly development are very dependent on them and you're limited
- 7:47Helen Tupper: as a result. So what we want to create is a
- 7:50Helen Tupper: community around an individual's career. And this doesn't mean you
- 7:53Helen Tupper: have to know everybody in the company. It doesn't mean
- 7:55Helen Tupper: you need 10,000 connections on LinkedIn. I think there's a principle that's
- 7:59Helen Tupper: really important when you're building a community and then practically
- 8:02Helen Tupper: there's four people that matter most. So the principle is
- 8:05Helen Tupper: this is not just about people knowing people. So it's
- 8:08Helen Tupper: not about casual connections, but strong relationships are built on
- 8:12Helen Tupper: help. And this matters because one, people enjoy helping people.
- 8:17Helen Tupper: So if anyone's thinking, " Oh, I feel a bit awkward
- 8:19Helen Tupper: about networking." Your brain quite likes helping people. It's called
- 8:23Helen Tupper: the helpers high, makes us feel useful, valuable. So thinking
- 8:26Helen Tupper: how can I help is a better way for me
- 8:28Helen Tupper: to start building a relationship with somebody. It also results
- 8:31Helen Tupper: in reciprocity. So when people feel like you've been helpful,
- 8:35Helen Tupper: they want to help you in return. And that's not
- 8:38Helen Tupper: always an immediate action. It could be a month or
- 8:40Helen Tupper: two down the line when you get in touch with
- 8:42Helen Tupper: someone, they're much more likely to respond to requests for
- 8:44Helen Tupper: help, having built that reciprocity.
- 8:46Iona Bain: Enlighten self- interest.
- 8:48Helen Tupper: Exactly. And to be honest, it just feels good. Even if someone doesn't help
- 8:50Helen Tupper: you back, does it really matter? If you've helped someone,
- 8:53Helen Tupper: you feel good. I always think that is good enough. So
- 8:55Helen Tupper: that's the principle. Just think how can I be helpful?
- 8:58Helen Tupper: Now, there are four relationships in a career community that
- 9:01Helen Tupper: make the biggest difference to someone's development. So the first
- 9:04Helen Tupper: is the role of a mentor. A mentor is just
- 9:07Helen Tupper: someone who has done what you want to do. They
- 9:09Helen Tupper: don't have to be more senior than you, could be
- 9:11Helen Tupper: a peer, anyone really. And what you benefit from with
- 9:14Helen Tupper: a mentor is advice, you're borrowing their experience really. Just
- 9:18Helen Tupper: start with a meeting. Now you might have a conversation,
- 9:20Helen Tupper: there might be a connection and you might have a follow-
- 9:22Helen Tupper: up meeting or it might evolve into something more meaningful
- 9:25Helen Tupper: over time. But don't start with this needs to be
- 9:27Helen Tupper: a two- year relationship with somebody because it's quite a
- 9:29Helen Tupper: lot of pressure to put on someone you've not actually
- 9:31Helen Tupper: spent any time with yet. The second one is peer
- 9:33Helen Tupper: relationships. So if a mentor has done what you want
- 9:36Helen Tupper: to do, a peer is somebody who's going through what you are
- 9:38Helen Tupper: going through. There's often a lot of trust and support
- 9:41Helen Tupper: in there. They are experiencing things at the same time.
- 9:44Helen Tupper: So you can share learning with each other. Peers accelerate
- 9:47Helen Tupper: your development. Third one is a sponsor. This is where I
- 9:51Helen Tupper: often find the biggest gap in people's communities. So a
- 9:55Helen Tupper: sponsor is somebody who's got access and influence over an
- 9:58Helen Tupper: area you are interested in. So that could be a
- 10:00Helen Tupper: project that you'd like to work on, could be a
- 10:02Helen Tupper: position that you're interested in. And what they can do
- 10:05Helen Tupper: if you build the right relationship with them is they
- 10:08Helen Tupper: can advocate for you. And the fourth and final one
- 10:10Helen Tupper: is a coach. So coaches are people who will ask
- 10:14Helen Tupper: questions to unlock your thinking, but in the context of
- 10:17Helen Tupper: your community, this doesn't have to be a professional coach.
- 10:22Helen Tupper: I think it's easier to think who do I know
- 10:24Helen Tupper: that has got a coaching approach? So two skills to
- 10:28Helen Tupper: look out for here, the people who ask good questions
- 10:31Helen Tupper: and also to be a good listener because coaches are
- 10:34Helen Tupper: not there to give the answers, they're there to ask
- 10:36Helen Tupper: the questions. You are the person doing the thinking, generating
- 10:39Helen Tupper: your own answers and think it's who have I got
- 10:42Helen Tupper: and who have I not? And just to keep coming
- 10:45Helen Tupper: back to that question because we all have gaps. None
- 10:47Helen Tupper: of them are perfect, but it just helps us to
- 10:50Helen Tupper: prioritize the relationships we need to invest in. It's just
- 10:53Helen Tupper: somebody who is non- judgmental, who doesn't try and switch
- 10:58Helen Tupper: to their experience and go, " Oh, well when I was
- 11:00Helen Tupper: in this situation..." Because that's more mental mode. The best
- 11:03Helen Tupper: way that I've found people with coaching approaches have been
- 11:06Helen Tupper: the people that when I worked with them, they asked
- 11:09Helen Tupper: me questions that I found a bit uncomfortable. Like, " Helen, why
- 11:12Helen Tupper: are you actually doing that? What's driving you?" And when
- 11:15Helen Tupper: I worked with them, (inaudible) . We're just trying to
- 11:18Helen Tupper: get it done. I don't want to think about this now that's too big
- 11:20Helen Tupper: a question. But now I hold those people in my
- 11:24Helen Tupper: mind because I know you are going to ask the
- 11:25Helen Tupper: hard questions.
- 11:27Iona Bain: They're like a sounding board.
- 11:28Helen Tupper: They are good at holding pauses. They don't interrupt. That's what to look out for.
- 11:33Iona Bain: We all need people like that in our lives.
- 11:34Helen Tupper: We do.
- 11:34Iona Bain: That's so valuable. So when you are thinking about making
- 11:39Iona Bain: a pivot and going in this different direction, people will
- 11:42Iona Bain: fear that it will go wrong. And if it goes
- 11:45Iona Bain: wrong, maybe it's meant leaving a job that had a
- 11:48Iona Bain: lot of security and not being as financially stable and
- 11:53Iona Bain: having a more difficult time. What would your advice be
- 11:56Iona Bain: to those who are scared about making that next move?
- 11:58Helen Tupper: So there's this fear- based response to change and then
- 12:03Helen Tupper: there is a very practical one of, "But what if I
- 12:05Helen Tupper: don't enjoy it? And what if I am not good
- 12:06Helen Tupper: at it? I've not done this before." So I think
- 12:08Helen Tupper: there are two different things to work on here. So
- 12:10Helen Tupper: the first one is caging confidence gremlins. And the second
- 12:13Helen Tupper: one is trying to get some exposure and experience before
- 12:16Helen Tupper: you make that move so that you mitigate the risk
- 12:19Helen Tupper: of it going wrong. The confidence gremlin piece, a lot
- 12:23Helen Tupper: of that is moving from limiting beliefs. Like, " What if
- 12:27Helen Tupper: people don't like me in that team? If I fail,
- 12:30Helen Tupper: I'm going to be a failure." To more limitless thinking.
- 12:33Helen Tupper: To honest it sounds a little bit cheesy, but the
- 12:34Helen Tupper: truth is that when our confidence gremlins are growing, they
- 12:38Helen Tupper: tell us a really negative story that stops us taking
- 12:41Helen Tupper: action. So when I say limitless beliefs, all I'm saying
- 12:44Helen Tupper: is change the story. So if I do it and I
- 12:47Helen Tupper: fail, at least I'm going to learn. And it is
- 12:50Helen Tupper: having a statement that you can say to yourself that
- 12:52Helen Tupper: gives you at least the confidence to take action. The
- 12:55Helen Tupper: second bit is, " But I don't have experience. I don't
- 12:58Helen Tupper: know anybody, it might not work." Here, I would say
- 13:01Helen Tupper: building a bridge between where you are today and where
- 13:04Helen Tupper: you want to get to is really important. And that do you know people
- 13:06Helen Tupper: say, look before you leap. I think this more, the
- 13:10Helen Tupper: learn before you leap. Could you shadow somebody? Could you
- 13:14Helen Tupper: just get a mentor who tells you about a day
- 13:16Helen Tupper: in their life? And the more data you have about
- 13:19Helen Tupper: this move for your development, the better the decision you'll
- 13:21Helen Tupper: make is and the more informed you'll feel.
- 13:24Iona Bain: I mean a lot of young professionals who feel very
- 13:26Iona Bain: disillusioned and trapped on the corporate career ladder because they
- 13:31Iona Bain: feel that they need to be at the level they're
- 13:33Iona Bain: at in order to afford the lifestyle, but they're not
- 13:37Iona Bain: particularly fulfilled. What would your advice be to anyone who
- 13:40Iona Bain: feels that they're trapped in that situation and there's nowhere
- 13:44Iona Bain: to go?
- 13:45Helen Tupper: It's really hard. We spend a lot of our time
- 13:46Helen Tupper: at work and so to feel you're not having the
- 13:49Helen Tupper: impact that you want and you're not enjoying what you're
- 13:51Helen Tupper: doing, I think there are things that you can do
- 13:53Helen Tupper: about it though. I always go back to it was
- 13:55Helen Tupper: one of our squiggly skills, which is around values. So
- 13:59Helen Tupper: forget job titles and forget the way you work, just
- 14:01Helen Tupper: forget all that for a moment. Actually, you at a
- 14:03Helen Tupper: very human individual level, what is it that motivates and
- 14:07Helen Tupper: drives you? That's all the values are and everyone has
- 14:09Helen Tupper: them and they're not things that change. They're pretty stable.
- 14:12Helen Tupper: So when I do these exercises, I have four words
- 14:14Helen Tupper: that always come out. So these are my values, freedom,
- 14:18Helen Tupper: growth, energy, and achievement. That is what makes me me.
- 14:21Helen Tupper: They'll be different to your answers, different to other people's answers.
- 14:23Iona Bain: That sounds pretty similar to mine.
- 14:26Helen Tupper: But do you know with values, even when you have the
- 14:27Helen Tupper: same word, it can actually mean something different.
- 14:30Iona Bain: Very true.
- 14:30Helen Tupper: So my business partner who is very different, she has achievement.
- 14:34Helen Tupper: Her definition of achievement is having one big win to
- 14:37Helen Tupper: work towards. That's my idea of a nightmare. I don't
- 14:40Helen Tupper: want one big win. My win is having lots of
- 14:43Helen Tupper: wins to work on. So even the same word can
- 14:45Helen Tupper: mean something different. But the point is when I'm feeling
- 14:49Helen Tupper: a bit flat or a bit frustrated, it's often because
- 14:52Helen Tupper: my values are not being fulfilled. I haven't got freedom.
- 14:55Helen Tupper: I've got a micromanaging manager. And it really helps you
- 14:58Helen Tupper: to think, what am I missing at the moment and
- 15:01Helen Tupper: what could I do differently? And sometimes the answer is
- 15:04Helen Tupper: actually not in work. So I have been in a
- 15:07Helen Tupper: situation where I knew what my values were and I
- 15:09Helen Tupper: was red and be greening them and there was quite
- 15:12Helen Tupper: a lot of red on my freedom, growth, energy and
- 15:13Helen Tupper: achievement. I want to do this, but I can't work
- 15:16Helen Tupper: out in this organization at this time. How am I
- 15:18Helen Tupper: supposed to get this stuff? But I was slightly stuck.
- 15:21Helen Tupper: There were reasons that I was in that role that
- 15:23Helen Tupper: I could not change immediately. And so what I did
- 15:25Helen Tupper: was I found that fulfillment outside of work. So I
- 15:27Helen Tupper: still concentrated on achieving inside of work, but these values
- 15:31Helen Tupper: are not going anywhere. I'm not going to be happy in
- 15:33Helen Tupper: my life if I haven't got these things somewhere. And
- 15:35Helen Tupper: so I actually started a side project and these things
- 15:38Helen Tupper: that I cared about, I found fulfillment somewhere else. And
- 15:41Helen Tupper: then what happened over time is I worked through the
- 15:43Helen Tupper: work issues. I stayed in the company that I was
- 15:45Helen Tupper: in and I made some changes, but they didn't happen overnight.
- 15:48Helen Tupper: But in the meantime, those things that mattered most to
- 15:50Helen Tupper: me, I was still finding fulfillment. I also in the
- 15:53Helen Tupper: company that I was in, tried to connect with people
- 15:55Helen Tupper: outside of my role, make new relationships because that is
- 15:59Helen Tupper: what unlocks opportunity.
- 16:00Iona Bain: Because not all of us can have the luxury of working
- 16:03Iona Bain: in jobs that give us lots and lots of fulfillment
- 16:06Iona Bain: and satisfaction all of the time. Sometimes it is a job
- 16:09Iona Bain: that will pay the bills and that's okay.
- 16:11Helen Tupper: What is important is that you understand, we talk about
- 16:14Helen Tupper: using your values as a compass for your career. Let
- 16:17Helen Tupper: that be the thing that guides you in what you do.
- 16:20Iona Bain: A lot of what you've talked about, it's not necessarily
- 16:23Iona Bain: about getting recognition, it's about what drives you and what
- 16:26Iona Bain: makes you feel satisfied. So how can we step out
- 16:29Iona Bain: of that need for recognition that we all have that
- 16:32Iona Bain: I also think maybe is a bit amplified by social media.
- 16:36Helen Tupper: So I think when you know what your values are
- 16:38Helen Tupper: and you ground yourself in your values, you're less dependent on
- 16:41Helen Tupper: validation. And obviously recognition is important, but I think you
- 16:45Helen Tupper: also don't need to just rely on recognition. You can't
- 16:47Helen Tupper: support yourself with reflection. So what have I done well
- 16:51Helen Tupper: this week? Who have I made a difference to? What
- 16:54Helen Tupper: am I proud of? Those sorts of questions, we have
- 16:57Helen Tupper: an exercise which we call very small successes. So at the
- 17:01Helen Tupper: end of every day, particularly if you're going through a knotty
- 17:03Helen Tupper: moment, this can really help. Just take two weeks at
- 17:06Helen Tupper: the end of every day, force yourself to reflect on
- 17:09Helen Tupper: three things that you've done well that day. The first
- 17:11Helen Tupper: one you'll find, you'll be like, " I went for a
- 17:14Helen Tupper: lunch break." The first one might come-
- 17:16Iona Bain: Still a win.
- 17:17Helen Tupper: It's still a win. That is exactly it because when
- 17:21Helen Tupper: work doesn't feel great, it is very hard for you
- 17:23Helen Tupper: to see your wins. The point of this is to see the
- 17:26Helen Tupper: very small successes. And if you can keep this up,
- 17:28Helen Tupper: three successes a day for two weeks, you will have
- 17:32Helen Tupper: 42 small things that you have done well. But 42 things doesn't
- 17:36Helen Tupper: seem so small. It starts to be more significant and
- 17:39Helen Tupper: suddenly I'm less reliant. My manager's never going to tell
- 17:42Helen Tupper: me 42 things I've done well in two weeks. That's
- 17:44Helen Tupper: never going to happen. I might get one.
- 17:46Iona Bain: You have to tell yourself.
- 17:48Helen Tupper: That's it, you have to tell yourself and you don't
- 17:50Helen Tupper: have to do this all the time. But I would say
- 17:52Helen Tupper: in the hard moments, it is very helpful that you
- 17:56Helen Tupper: reflect and recognize your own wins rather than relying on
- 18:00Helen Tupper: other people to validate you.
- 18:02Iona Bain: So this has been really, really helpful, Helen. But finally,
- 18:05Iona Bain: what are your three tips to create a career that works for you?
- 18:09Helen Tupper: I think number one, confidence. I think confidence can help
- 18:13Helen Tupper: you to be so brave about the things that you
- 18:14Helen Tupper: do with your development or it can hold you back.
- 18:17Helen Tupper: And I think if you can start to be aware
- 18:19Helen Tupper: of what gremlins are getting in your way and start
- 18:21Helen Tupper: to change the story that they're telling yourself, it makes
- 18:23Helen Tupper: a massive difference to your development. Second is community. This is
- 18:27Helen Tupper: very hard to do on your own. Building a community
- 18:31Helen Tupper: will help you grow beyond where you are today. And
- 18:33Helen Tupper: I think the third thing is don't wait for other
- 18:36Helen Tupper: people to do things for you in your development. You'll
- 18:40Helen Tupper: start to get frustrated. Create opportunities for yourself. They don't
- 18:43Helen Tupper: have to be massive. They could just be, " I'm creating
- 18:45Helen Tupper: by sharing an idea. I'm creating by putting a meeting
- 18:48Helen Tupper: in place with somebody." Just think, " How can I create
- 18:51Helen Tupper: more opportunities for myself this week?" And even if it's just
- 18:54Helen Tupper: one thing, it's better than the person who's waiting for
- 18:57Helen Tupper: the career conversation six months from now.
- 18:59Iona Bain: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Helen.
- 19:01Helen Tupper: My pleasure.
- 19:03Iona Bain: Helen, that was incredibly insightful and I think we're all
- 19:06Iona Bain: feeling a little bit squigglier now. So thank you very
- 19:09Iona Bain: much and thank you for listening. I would absolutely love
- 19:12Iona Bain: it if you could follow the podcast, leave us a
- 19:15Iona Bain: review, and that way you can help others get a
- 19:17Iona Bain: little bit richer too. Keep up with the show on
- 19:20Iona Bain: YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram at Legal and General. Until next time, see
- 19:25Iona Bain: you soon.