Blog | Highest Path - Diversity & Inclusion, Women's Leadership, Executive Coaching

7 Steps to Gracefully Transition into a New Career…

June 22, 2020June 23, 2020
by Monique Tallon

With millions of people currently out of work, now is the perfect time to reassess your career goals. It can be easy to fall into a downward spiral of fear and worry, especially if you can’t get food on the table. But it’s also a chance to reinvent yourself in ways that you may never have thought of before. It’s an opportunity to get creative and stop and ask yourself if you’re really excited about what you do or if now is the time to change careers. With automation and a changing economy fast approaching, now is a great time to think about your options and assess whether it’s time for a change.

Many people consider changing careers a daunting task. Most will stay in their current career because it provides “security” or “stability” even if it doesn’t necessarily bring much joy or satisfaction. We might stay in jobs for years without any growth or career development opportunities because it’s the safer option to do so. But for some, there comes a point where a lack of fulfillment and happiness gets to such a level that you know it’s time to switch careers. In fact, research shows that the average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life. The key is not to get stuck in fear or a lack mindset that can stop you from taking the necessary steps toward finding a new career path.

I had a personal experience with changing careers about ten years ago. At the time, I was working in Silicon Valley at a prominent tech company as an Event Marketer. I had a great job, travelled, and was able to buy a house in my mid-twenties. I felt confident that my career was on the right track. But at a certain point, I became aware of an inner voice that kept telling me I was meant for something bigger. I felt the urge to somehow make a bigger impact in the world. I tried ignoring those whispers, brushing them to the side. But they got louder and louder until I couldn’t ignore them any longer.

One of the reasons I wanted to ignore that voice was because I really had no idea what else I could do with my career. The only thing I did know was that I wanted to help others and make an impact somehow, but I didn’t know exactly what that would look like. So I put an intention out there to find out and began to take steps in exploring various possibilities. After about two years of searching, taking classes, reading about different careers and digging deeper, I stumbled upon a professional called “l ife coaching” which was still rather new at the time.

When I heard about the skills one needed to utilize as a coach, I thought this could be aligned with my skill set. The icing on the cake was when I heard that coaching was about helping people meet their full potential. Now THAT was what I was looking for! Could this be the career for me? I set out to find out. I signed up for an introductory class at the Coaches Training Institute, and after my first weekend workshop, I was hooked. I knew this would be the career I would pursue. I knew because of the way I felt in my body when I practiced coaching. Even though I was a total newbie at it, the experience of coaching a client and the transformation it produced in others made me feel alive and full of energy. At the time, I had no idea how I would build a business or support myself as a coach, but I just knew that this was the career I wanted to dedicate myself to.

So when the decision to switch careers has been made, you have to go about the challenge of figuring out how best to do that. Does it make sense to pivot within your own field or is it possible to change sectors/industries? How do you build on the strengths and background you’ve accumulated thus far? How do you deal with the fears and doubts that keep tempting you to stay in your current job – you are employed after all!

To address these concerns, I’ve put together a simple step-by-step roadmap that can help you make the transition into a new career more graceful based on my personal experience and having coached many clients on transitioning to more fulfilling and satisfying careers. Of course, I always recommend working with a career coach to help support you through these steps. But for those of you who want to get started, here are a few tips to help you.

1. Set a clear intention and create a strong “why”

Even though you might have already decided to switch careers, you may not have a clear alternative in mind. This is totally normal; many people don’t have a clear idea what they want to do when they set out to switch careers. In order to start the process, set a clear intention for yourself. Tell yourself you want to discover a new career path, one that is much more fulfilling and purposeful. Set out a clear why – what type of impact do you want to make? You may not know the “what” but many of us already have a sense of what would give us more fulfillment. It might be as simple as “I want to help people” or “I want to make the world a better place.” Set that intention and write it down to set the wheels in motion.

2. Make a list of all your strengths and prior experience

When one has worked in a certain field or career for a long time it’s easy to forget the skills, qualities, and strengths you bring to the table. It is important to take stock of what you have accomplished as well as look at your education, background and capabilities. Take time to make a thorough list of all these things to get a full picture of all your assets – it will help in your discovery process. It will also give you the self-confidence you need when interviewing or putting yourself out there for a new job.

I once had a client who lacked self-confidence and was staying in her job out of a fear of not being good enough. She was an MIT graduate and was at the top of her field at the young age of thirty. She worked as an engineer but had ambitions to run for her local City Council. After working with her for close to a year, she built the inner confidence that was necessary to leave her high-paying job and run for office. Because of the work we did, she had the confidence to pursue her dreams and six months later was elected City Councilwoman.

3. What are you most passionate about and what excites you?

Next, make a list of all the things you are passionate about. What are your interests? What are you curious about? What fields/sectors/industries intrigue you? Give yourself permission to think big here – you can list hobbies, areas that you’re knowledgeable about or even those that intrigue you but you don’t have much experience with. You might find yourself judging your passions and being worried about how you could make money with them. Try to suspend that limiting self-talk and write down whatever comes to mind.

4. What is the impact you want to make?

Now you’re ready to look at what type of impact you want to make. What change do you want to see in the world? What demographics or groups of people do you want to work with? Do you want to work with children? The needy? Is there a specific problem in the world you want to solve? These are all good questions to ask yourself when looking at the type of impact you want to make. Again, make sure you are not allowing limiting beliefs to sway you from making this list. Be honest with yourself and remind yourself that you can make a difference in the world.

Once you’re done with the above three steps you can create a Venn diagram to find the overlap between your strengths, passions and impact you want to make. One additional thing you want to consider is what people will pay you for. However, try not to get too hung up on that one – sometimes we shy away from going for our dreams because we aren’t 100% sure how we will make money or support ourselves. Personal experience has shown me that when you follow your dreams and passions, the money follows. There are a thousand and one ways to monetize your interests, especially now in the digital age we live in.

The more important question to ask yourself is: How could I use my strengths to make the impact I desire in the area that I am most passionate about? This is what the Japanese call “Ikigai” or your True Purpose.

5. Do your due diligence

Once you’ve narrowed down your list to a handful of careers or areas of interest, it’s time to take a deep dive. Before you jump into applying for graduate school, take a few classes at your local community college, or check out a LinkedIn Learning or Udemy course. Find folks who currently work in the field you’re interested in and interview them – find out what it’s like to work in that field. What are the opportunities or types of jobs that exist in that field? What is the day to day like, what type of activities would you be doing? Read books, blogs and do as much research as possible to get a better understanding of that career before you commit to any type of expensive education or training.

6. Make a list of your values around work/life balance

One area that is often overlooked is how this career aligns with your personal goals and values. Is autonomy important to you or is a steady paycheck more important? Do you want to be your own boss or would you rather work with a team? Do you want flexibility so you can start a family in a few years? This is an opportunity for you to design your desired work/life balance. Perhaps you want to have children in a few years and would like to have a job where you can make your own hours and work from home. Write down a list of your top values/needs and think about the type of work/life balance you want as it will help narrow down your choice even further.

7. Check-in with your body

Lots of times we make decisions based on what we think we “should” do or the most “sensible” or “logical” choice. We allow society, our spouse, friends or parents talk us into careers that sound really good on paper but at the end of the day don’t really resonate. Ask yourself – what makes me feel most alive? What excites me? What option fills my heart with the most joy? When we make decisions aligned with our values we are setting ourselves up for success. At the end of the day, the body never lies so lean into your body’s wisdom to steer you down the road that will bring you the most fulfillment.

If you follow the above steps and allow yourself to go through the inquiry process instead of jumping into a new career just because it sounds good, you’ll save yourself a lot of time, money and energy. Allow yourself as much time as necessary to go through this process – you may have to explore multiple options before you find “the one.” But once you do, it will be a very rewarding experience to move toward a career that is more aligned with your skills, passions and one that fills you with more purpose.

Allyship

5 Tips for DEI Practitioners to Effectively Manage Cultural…

June 22, 2020June 22, 2020
by Monique Tallon

As we continue to engage in a much overdo national conversation about racism and race inequality in America, those of us who work in or with organizations as DEI practitioners, are also thinking about how we can translate this momentum to address cultural diversity in the workplace. In this piece, I’ll attempt to outline a few ways folks responsible for DEI can more effectively manage cultural diversity in the workplace. These recommendations are just a few steps of many that can help us tackle institutionalized and systemic racism which bleeds into our organizations. Although the road ahead is long and arduous, I feel strongly that we must support leaders and give them the tools to navigate racial bias and better understand cultural diversity in the workplace.

What is Cultural Diversity?

Cultural diversity can be defined as a group of people from various racial backgrounds co-existing within a larger culture. While this sounds like a beautiful idea, it can be challenging to establish cohesiveness as this requires the dominant culture to make efforts to be inclusive, without being condescending or pandering.

In a society, the dominant culture is the shared culture of the largest and usually most powerful group. In the United States, for example, this group has historically been white, English-speaking people of European ancestry who hold a type of Judeo-Christian faith. As a result, this group enjoys a considerable amount of influence in establishing what is known as the hegemonic culture, or the social norms and expectations of a society. Today we see white culture represented heavily in many of our organizations, although there are always exceptions to this rule.

This is nowhere more apparent than in the boardroom. There are only four black CEO’s in the Fortune 500 and 3.2% in executive leadership positions. Statistics for other non-white groups are equally as disappointing, and the same goes for women and LGBTQ communities. Therefore, this isn’t a black or white issue per se, it is a dominant culture versus minority culture issue where we can see similarities and intersectionality in the disparate opportunities between these groups.

Leaders in organizations are tasked with creating a culture where everyone feels like they belong, regardless of their racial background, color of their skin or other identity demographics. Race has been a particularly challenging topic for organizations to address till now, but with the #Black Lives Matter movement similar to #MeToo, the door has opened for more transparent dialogue to truly look at the root causes of racial disparities.

What is cultural diversity management?

Therefore it’s important to look at how we can manage cultural diversity in the workplace. As a DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) consultant, it is important to note that building a culture of inclusion is one of the best ways to address disparities in cultural diversity, along with specific policies and procedures in place that prevent bias and unequal treatment from preventing minority communities from advancing. The tips that I will be sharing can be applied to all culturally diverse and less-represented groups, but for our purposes today I will be addressing this from a racial diversity lens.

1. Practicing Empathy

Having been born as first-generation Armenian-American, I can empathize with how it feels to be a minority. My first language was not English and I remember being confused when I entered pre-school. Throughout grade school, I was made fun of because I brought different food items to lunch than my peers. I was made fun of because of how I looked. From a young age, I was made to feel different and “less than” because of my cultural heritage and being labeled as “different.” This feeling of unworthiness and lack of self-esteem stayed with me well into my adulthood.

To be able to address cultural differences, we must first put ourselves in other’s shoes and ask ourselves what must it feel like to be different. What types of challenges might Black people face through no fault of their own besides the fact they happened to be born with different color skin? What does it feel like to be in the out-group versus the in-group? Jane Elliott, one of the world’s first diversity educators, teaches how it feels to be an outcast through her famous brown eyes vs blue eyes experiment that she conducted in the 1950’s when racial tensions were high in the US. When we talk about diversity in our workshops, we use introspective exercises that can help people relate to the feeling of being “left out” or “othered” in order to learn to empathize with how others feel on a daily basis when they are in the minority.

2. Respecting Differences & Allyship

Once we can empathize with the lived experience of others, in this case Black people, we can then begin to change our stereotypes and biases….and ultimately build policies and procedures that are more equitable. Teaching respect in the workplace is a key component to driving inclusive environments and we do this through exercises that show how having diverse perspectives and thought-processes can be beneficial and in many cases can drive innovation. Diversity feeds new ideas, creativity and out of the box thinking which are crucial to organizations that want to stay competitive and relevant in the market. Respect is shown through inclusive behavior and being mindful that others may not have the same privilege as you do. This could look differently depending on what your function is in the organization, but everyone can play a role in becoming aware of their own unconscious biases and recognizing how those biases impact the way they unintentionally sideline others. Learning how to use your privilege to benefit others who may not have the same opportunities is a great way to build allyship and begin shattering the invisible glass ceiling that exists for all minorities, in particular Black people who have been historically marginalized.

3. Micro-Aggressions vs Micro-Affirmations

When we subconsciously typecast people into our “in-group”- those that are in our trusted circle of safety or our “out-group”- those that fall out of that circle, we end up subtly treating people in each group differently. We might subtly and unconsciously hire someone who we have gone to business school with because they are in our in-group and we assume that we will get along with them and they will be easy to work with. These are called micro-affirmations, when we are “affirming” that that person is someone we trust and we can rely on. However, if I have a bias against people with piercings for instance, or African Americans, then if my peer is someone who falls in that category, I may subtly show that I’m not so comfortable in their presence. Maybe I won’t go out of my way to interact with them or perhaps I won’t smile or make as much eye contact when I do. The messages I am sending to this person, called micro-aggressions, eventually make them feel uncomfortable. I may not give them opportunities to work on projects I lead or I may not call on them in meetings. Therefore, I’m unconsciously putting them at a disadvantage, which, if left unchecked, can have negative consequences on their performance and their upward mobility inside the organization.

4. Creating Psychological Safety

Managers and leaders have a responsibility to ensure that people feel safe to contribute, speak up, voice their opinions and be authentic. In an experiment that was done at Google, it was shown that the main differentiator between high-performing teams and less performing teams was not IQ, background, experience or education of the team members, it was how well the manager of the team created a culture of psychological safety on the team. There’s some great books that have been recently published on this topic and we must do better when it comes to training people leaders on how to create safety, especially for culturally diverse groups. Not only will it lead to a culture of belonging, but research shows that it also drives better business results.

5. Rewarding Inclusive Behavior

One of the ways I believe companies often miss the mark on their diversity programs is that they are rarely tied to any sort of KPI’s or business objectives. In 2003, there was estimated $8 billion spent on diversity initiatives but we know that we still have a long way to go to close the gap when it comes to representation of historically underrepresented groups, including Black people. the bottom line is – you can’t just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away. Therefore, it’s time that businesses begin viewing diversity as a business imperative and tie inclusive behavior to performance reviews to incentivize and reward behavior change. As an executive coach, I know how hard it is for people to change, let alone a huge organization that is made up of different types of people. Therefore, we have to implement business strategies to begin treating diversity as seriously as we do other investments such as marketing, sales, operations etc.

Hopeful Time for Change in our Workplaces

In conclusion, to best manage culture diversity, we have to look at adapting new behaviors around how we treat people and create environments where people aren’t made to feel different because of their cultural background. We must be more sensitive to the lived experience of minority groups, especially Black people, and respect their unique challenges. Managers must upskill themselves on inclusive behaviors that create more respectful workplaces and organizations must incentivize and reward people for doing so.

I’m more hopeful than ever that we can collectively address systemic racism in our workplaces based on white hegemony and dominant culture which has largely marginalized Black and African-American communities in business. As DEI consultants, we must work together to support workplaces in their cultural diversity initiatives and programs and continue pushing the envelope when it comes to making the tough decisions and having the tough conversations that will lead to true systemic change.

Culture & Society

4 Steps to Address Inequity Inside Our Organizations

June 7, 2020June 10, 2020
by Monique Tallon

As we write this, our nation is expressing its collective outrage at the systemic injustices that have plagued our country since its inception. George Floyd was not the first and will not be the last black man to be the victim of brutal violence that stems from ingrained racial bias in the police force. And although we have had to endure many murders caught on video in the last several years, for some reason, this time feels different. This time people are demanding real and lasting systemic change.

Many organizations in the past several days have joined their voice with protestors and have condemned not only the killing but also racial injustice. It has been encouraging to see companies like Airbnb take bold action – they recently announced a donation of $500,000 to Black Lives Matter Foundation and NAACP to fight for real reforms. They also published a helpful resource prepared by the Black @Airbnb Employee Resource Group that talks about allyship, black organizations to donate to, how to have daring discussions about racism as well as helpful links to articles and books.

As DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) consultants and practitioners, we have a responsibility to not only understand the origins of systemic racism in this country, but to offer tools and resources to teams and organizations that might want to seriously address the inequity inside their workplaces. For far too long, D&I initiatives have been mostly about the “right thing to do” instead of a business imperative. Businesses have invested millions of dollars in trying to close the gender gap and find ways to create more inclusive work cultures for minority communities. However, we still see statistics that tell us that we have a long way to go in implementing deep and lasting change.

The reason for this, in our opinion, having worked with mid-growth and Fortune 500’s companies on these initiatives, is that they don’t go far enough to have the intended effect. Culture change is not something that happens overnight. It requires several important ingredients which oftentimes are overlooked or not implemented because of fear of backlash or not being PC. Whatever the case may be, here are some suggestions that we invite organizations to start thinking about as they tackle the work of creating more equitable cultures of inclusion and belonging.

1) Behavior Must be Role Modeled at the Top

As much as we’d like to think that employee resource groups and other internal initiatives drive change, the old adage still stands. Change must start at the top. Since 2015, the percentage of white men among Fortune 500 CEOs has been between 89% and 90%. These statistics make it hard to see how we can start making those changes a reality. While we build the pipeline of black and other minorities who can take on those leadership positions, we invite white male CEO’s into doing the inner work necessary to look at their own ingrained unconscious biases. This goes beyond a one or two day unconscious bias training.

This requires working 1:1 with a skilled executive coach who can facilitate deep inquiry around these issues, including questions such as:

How would you describe your personal edge around topics related to gender and race? Describe a time where you felt discomfort.

What did that feel like in your body? How did you react?

What is the cost of not facing these edges?

What do you and the organization have to gain from having honest conversations about race and gender in the company?

What behaviors can you role model that would signal leadership from you around creating more equity and inclusion inside the organization?

What type of policies would you champion to create systemic culture change inside the organization?

2) Conduct a diversity assessment

How many POC’s, women and minorities do you have on your teams? And in your leadership? And on your board? Many companies are getting pushback since they have more social media posts about Black Lives Matter than they have people of color working in their company. Changing the makeup of your workforce can be done through unbiased hiring practices, but you should also look to where promotions and horizontal moves could better position POC’s in positions of influence in your company.

3) Facilitate courageous conversations

While racial tensions and bias in the workplace can feel overwhelming in its complexity, one of the best ways to address this underlying tension is through open-dialogue. Avoiding these issues in the workplace tends to escalate them. A skilled facilitator can walk participants through exercises that help them face the issues surrounding race, class and culture. Participants walk away with tangible tools and develop self-awareness, empathy, critical thinking, social awareness and non-violent communication skills that set them up for successfully navigating these issues at work.

4) Reward Inclusive Behaviors

One thing important to remember is no one wants to feel singled out. A set of rules should not apply to one group but not the other. It’s tricky to strike a balance between taking action to create equity for underrepresented groups and making sure were not excluding other groups at their expense. The best antidote for this is to make sure everyone feels included. While structural and policy level changes can address systemic inequities, our behaviors toward African-American, Latinx, Asian-Americans, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities and women should be the same. All of these groups have one thing in common: they are all human beings. And human beings have a need to feel safe in order to have a sense of belonging. Creating a culture of psychological safety inside the organization is imperative for ALL people to thrive in the workplace. It’s up to managers and leaders to role-model inclusive behaviour in order to do so. To encourage behavior change on the micro-level, companies must find ways to incentivize employees through gamification and connect the dots to performance reviews and rewards.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, organizations must do better to implement policies and practices that can make a real difference in driving an inclusive and more equitable workplace. If we are to see more people of color, women and LGBTQA+ communities represented in leadership positions, we need to recruit, reward and promote diverse talent. Companies that are willing to do the deeper work through skills development, courageous dialogue and policy change will not only meet this challenge, but will attract and retain talent that represents the wide majority of the customers they seek to serve. And that is a win-win for all.

Gender Equality

Working from Home is Here to Stay. 7 Tips…

June 5, 2020June 10, 2020
by Monique Tallon

Sheryl Sandberg recently commented that the global pandemic is resulting in a “double-double shift” for women who are forced to work full time from home. The unemployment rate for women is at an unprecedented 15.5% for the first time ever and worse yet for Black and Hispanic women at 16.4% and 20.2% respectively. The rate of unemployment for men is 13%; for white men, it is 12.4%.

So how do women deal with the economic, mental and physical challenges they are faced with during this time of upheaval? Click to read more about the 7 tips I think company’s could implement to make sure women thrive during these challenging times.