What just happened? After a seismic event like COVID, the aftershocks to career and employment life will follow. The full impact of the crisis may well be ahead of us. What may follow could be broader and deeper in ways we cannot predict.
What better time is there for reflection, resetting and reinvention?
“Change shifts. Value shifts,” said Sandy Ogg, founder of CEO.Works, on a recent call hosted by Marshall Goldsmith, executive coach extraordinaire. This is just as true for individuals as for companies. People who were promoted to a salary and title for the value they created may now find themselves attached to a less valuable chain.
In The Power in Plan B, a webinar series I hosted on Zoom this month with special guests Tracy Imm and Greg Conderacci, we have been exploring the subject of what COVID means to all of us, and how we can embrace change and turn toward disruption. The space between what was and what will be – the already and the not yet – is called the liminal space. Liminal is a word derived from the Latin word threshold. Nearly everyone – all who sheltered from contagion, all who worked from home or home-schooled children – has been in the liminal space. Liminal space is uncomfortable, uncertain and unsatisfying. There is no roadmap to navigate this period. Liminality is so uncomfortable that we rush to get to “next” or to the place we can land that feels certain or secure.
The liminal space is rich with opportunities to grow and learn when we linger there. The decisions don’t come quickly or certainly. Here we test our limits and learn about ourselves. And, at a moment when no one has all the answers, why let the moment pass without reevaluating our own paths? it makes more sense to pause to re-invent our future.
When a high-achieving team or a senior professional find themselves in seats that are no longer as valuable or the path is in question, you have to change the way you view the future. That’s the notion behind the Power in Plan B. When is the last time you asked yourself what you really wanted to do and be? What would it take to get there?
With this in mind, I’m excited to be forming a Plan B Mastermind with fellow Leadership and Transition Coach Tracy Imm. A Mastermind is a group learning experience for high achievers offering a coaching mindset and group facilitation as you develop your Plan B. Over five Zoom sessions in June, July and August, we will provide an organized process, discussion and guidance, along with an awesome peer group of other high achievers.
If you are ready to shift yourself or your organization in new directions, read more about the Plan B Mastermind here.
You may be following Plan A and want to stay the course. You have achieved the pride of accomplishment and well-deserved rewards right where you are. Even though you prefer Plan A, there are no assurances for the future. Plan B can be contingency planning, dream-making or the pivot from what may feel less certain than ever right now. When you have developed your Plan B, you regain agency over your choices, control what you can control and start to feel more empowered over the path that lays ahead of you.
Join the Mastermind NOW