Coaching for promotion - moving into management and business roles
For those in expert or technical roles, career and salary progression usually involves moving away from the hands-on work and being a 'guru' and moving into managerial or business roles. Having made this transition myself, I can coach you on topics such as:
  • Is it right for me - do I want to leave my expert role behind?
  • How can I demonstrate and develop commercial and management skills and be seen as a leader?​
  • Communicating complex technical information to a non technical, business audience (reports, proposals, presentations)
  • Managing CPD to develop business and commercial skills - developing a new vocabulary
  • Leading a technical team and troubleshooting management issues  
  • Networking skills and working with a wider variety of stakeholders 
Setting up your own business
Having in depth expertise in an area creates the opportunity to become an entrepreneur, an independent consultant and possibly build a portfolio career. It can be an attractive option to give a more flexible lifestyle and can be very fulfilling as it allows you to focus on what you enjoy doing.  But there is a lot to consider and weigh up when planning this step and it takes time to explore and make the decision. To mentor you through this decision-making process, and support you with the due diligence, I will use my business background and experience as an independent consultant to work with you on questions including:
  • Is it right for me - the lifestyle of an entrepreneur/ consultant and accepting the financial implications/risk?
  • What will be the nature of the business - what products and services will I be offering and who are my key clients?​
  • Personal SWOT - what are my strengths, what new skills or qualifications might I need to develop e.g. business, marketing and how would I do this?
  • A top level business analysis to test its feasibility - SWOT, Competitor analysis,  PESTLE
  • Reality check - feasibility, work-life balance and revenue.  
  • What else would I need to find out to make a decision  e.g. make new contacts, do more research, advice from others
Redundancy
Its especially challenging when a career move is forced upon us. For professional experts it can be tricky as roles within our field may be scarce through shifts in the industry (e.g. the demise of Oil and Gas engineering sector) or staying within our specialist field would require a significant geographical relocation.  My coaching approach centres around regrouping and building your expertise into an opportunity to move your career onto a new track.
  • Being resilient and positive
  • Review of transferable skills, strengths and experience
  • Options review. Considering sideways moves and switching sectors/industry.
  • Taking a break for accelerating CPD - building up expertise to switch sectors or bolster CV
  • What roles attract me, what might I be considering, what's a good fit?
  • Do I have red lines - relocation, work life balance, income?
  • Creating a plan for the role search
  • Approaches for updating CV, Linked In profile
  • Refreshing interview skills
When your career is  'stuck'

​There sometimes comes a stage where you feel that you have got as far as you can where you are and that you are 'stuck'. In expert careers, it is often the case that a company does not provide a good 'expert' career track and career options are limited.  Sometimes you are so valued in your current role that the company is not keen to see you branch into others! It may be that the company is relatively small and promotion prospects are limited. You may also be aware that Industry 4.0 (AI, big data, disruptive tech) may lead to your role being significantly changed in the near future and you need to think about future -proofing your career. I find that typical coaching topics include:
  • What would I want from a move - more salary, better work/life balance, more rewarding or challenging, more responsibility, better fit with company's values, a move into a more senior or management role?
  • ​What motivates me: what roles in the past have been the ones I  have enjoyed most and what does this tell me about the ideal role?

  • What are my strengths (a personal SWOT) and what transferable skills can I bring to a new role?
  • Should I change sector? Can my expertise be transferred to other industries? Can I gain new expertise to make myself competitive?
  • CPD. How can I develop new skills and experience to make a move easier?

What are the benefits of coaching and mentoring for developing careers?

Coaching helps you to build your career and achieve a good work life balance by having a confidential forum to fully explore, discuss and sense check your career options. 
  • It enhances your promotion prospects by increasing your effectiveness in your current role through building your skills 
  • It can get your career 'unstuck' by reviewing your skills and experience, rebooting and then building a new, effective career plan   
  • Coaching gives you new perspectives and may lead to exploring career opportunities you have not previously considered
  • It helps you to be more aware how valuable your own skills and expertise are, and appreciate how others will see you as a valuable asset!
  • It supports you to regroup in the case of redundancy and provides practical mentoring to find new roles  
Coaching allows you to do your due diligence when exploring decisions about major career moves, such as setting up your own business or changing fields/sectors, to make sure its a good fit and to maximise the chances of success ​

Arranging Coaching  ​

I offer on line coaching. The benefit is that it offers you great flexibility for scheduling and excellent value, since there's no need for me to travel.

Because expert careers are so varied, there are no set 'programmes' and I work with everyone to create something that is bespoke for your own situation. You just book sessions, on an individual basis, at a frequency that works for you.

In order to make sure coaching is a good fit for you, I offer
a free 30 min consultation so that we can discuss your situation and how we could work together. Then, if you are happy it's a good fit, you can book sessions on a flexible pay-as-you go basis to suit your schedule. 
Some typical coaching patterns my clients like are:
  • A1.5 hour session e.g.  to trouble shoot a specific problem/decision
  • 1.5 hours then two follow up sessions 1 hour each  e.g. a career reboot  
  • 1.5 hours then 4 follow up sessions of 1.5 hours each e.g. considering a major move - setting up your own business


​caroline@carolinejwalker.co.uk

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