3-day Career Certification Course

SYDNEY September 11-13

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Also in this edition

NCDA 2013 conference wrap up

Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for coaching and mentoring DISCOUNT OFFER!

Recent Career Development Articles

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North Sydney September 11th - 13th

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NCDA Boston Conference Wrap Up

The NCDA conference was a huge event - 1500 attendees - a sell out! Great keynotes on Autism and careers, Creativity and Mark Savickas' masterly historical analysis. Too many sessions to describe in detail - but this conference really set the benchmark, and was a treat to attend as a folow up to the highly successful Sydney CDAA conference.

Some images from the conference

Jim Bright, Robert Pryor having a tea party at the Boston NCDA conference

Kevin Glavin, Jen Del Corso and Sue Savickas outside the site of Frank Parsons' Vocational Guidance Bureau in Boston - now an Italian restaurant

Two of my favourite careers people - Norm Amundson and Spencer Niles before their excellent session on Hope-Filled model of Career Development

Dr Temple Grandin "At age two she had no speech and all the signs of severe autism. Fortunately, her mother defied the advice of the doctors and kept her out of an institution. Many hours of speech therapy, and intensive teaching enabled Temple to learn speech. As a teenager, life was hard with constant teasing. Mentoring by her high school science teacher and her aunt on her ranch in Arizona motivated Temple to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer."

Rob Pryor in full flow during our workshop - standing room only!

Jim Bright getting some audience participation during the workshop

A slide from Lauren Daley and Jon Schlesinger's excellent presentation on the applications of the Chaos Theory of Careers Boston NCDA 2013

A slide from our presentation - Frank Parsons career path as understood in the Chaos Theory of Careers - if Parsons was working today we believe he would be a Chaos theorist.

Beyond Goals

This is an important forthcoming publication. 35% discount to people in my network. More details Click here

Edited by Susan David, Harvard University, USA, David Clutterbuck, Clutterbuck Partnership, UK and David Megginson, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
What is there in developmental relationships beyond setting and striving to achieve goals? The presence of goals in coaching and mentoring programs has gone largely unquestioned, yet evidence is growing that the standard prescription of SMART, challenging goals is not always appropriate - and even potentially dangerous - in the context of a complex and rapidly changing world.
Beyond Goals advances standard goal-setting theory by bringing together cutting-edge perspectives from leaders in coaching and mentoring. From psychology to neuroscience, from chaos theory to social network theory, the contributors offer diverse and compelling insights into both the advantages and limitations of goal pursuit. The result is a more nuanced understanding of goals, with the possibility for practitioners to bring greater impact and sophistication to their client engagements. The implications of this reassessment are substantial for all those practicing as coaches and mentors, or managing coaching or mentoring initiatives in organizations.
Contents: Foreword; Preface; Goals: a long term view; Goals in coaching and mentoring: the current state of play; Researching goals in coaching; New perspectives on goals in coaching practice: an integrated model of goal-focused coaching; Self-determination theory within coaching contexts: supporting motives and goals that promote optimal functioning and well-being; A social neuroscience approach to goal setting for coaches; Putting goals to work in coaching: the complexities of implementation; The coaching engagement in the 21st century: new paradigms for complex times; Goal setting: a chaos theory of careers approach; When goal setting helps and hinders sustained, desired change; The goals behind the goals: pursuing transpersonal goals; GROW grows up: from winning the game to pursuing transpersonal goals; Goals in mentoring and coaching; Goal setting in a layered relationship mentoring model; Working with emergent goals: a pragmatic approach; The way forward: perspectives from the editors; Bibliography; References; Index.

Read more here

Download an intersting powerpoint presentation by one of the authors David Megginson here

Recent Career Development Articles

Here are some recent articles from my weekly Fairfax column

A little change, a lot of growth

I have been mulling over our over-attachment to certainty in our careers. Our relationship with certainty is ambiguous. We spend inordinate amounts of time in strategy meetings planning and scheming the future, and we do the same with our own careers pursuing the dream of a certain future. The reality is that we live in uncertain times and what follows from that is that life is uncertain.

Perversely, it is our attempts to achieve certainty that can be the biggest enemy to our careers, because one of the most potent sources of uncertainty stems from the fact that to live is to change. Indeed, change is the fundamental marker of life. Change is a steadfast companion throughout life, yet too often we treat this familiar companion with contempt: we ignore it, overlook it, believe through planning and strategy we can control it, and other times we simply pretend it does not exist. Read more here

When push comes to shrug

There is one thing worse than being fired, and that is being demoted. The one simple, essential aspect to the Kevin Rudd-Julia Gillard tussle is that Kevin understandably was not happy at being demoted. I watched this happen with a sense of unreality when it was decided that Kevin had to go.

Unprecedented, and premised on trivial and superficial opinion poll grounds, Kevin had to make way for someone more sympatico with the sponsors' message.

At the time of writing at 36,000 feet, I don't know who the Prime Minister of Australia is as petitions and machinations swirl around Canberra. I do know there has not been an election, so the one thing I am sure of is that our most important executive position is being treated like an RSL chook raffle.

I feel Kevin's pain, too. In their wisdom Qantas demoted me for not flying enough. While I didn't get a Comcar and driver to whisk me around, I did get access to good showers on the way to Europe and some nice pyjamas. Read more here

Revenge of the nerds

How many years must pass before people adapt to new technology? My recent experience suggests large portions of the population are still scratching their heads over the eight-track cartridge and compact cassette. They "can't be bothered" with programming their video recorders and generally rail against "new" technology.

Most of the Luddites' opprobrium is levelled against "the computer". This device - which, to be fair, has been present in their offices for only about 30 years - remains largely a mystery to these people. Anyone under the age of 60 will have experienced computers at work or at home for a good part of, if not all, their lives.

Yet despite this, they continue to behave as though they are recovering from an extremely nasty shock. Befuddled, bewildered and not bothered seems to be the prevailing attitude of large proportions of the population. Read more here

Online Careers Course - a great self-paced PD opportunity at low cost

The highly successful series Coaching with the Chaos Theory of Careers. The 10 webinar course has had a fantastic following and great feedback. This makes an excellent self-paced PD activity and will assist counsellors, coaches, HR staff, rehab professionals and psychologists in their professional development as well as being a great way to learn how to use a range of practical tools with this new and powerful approach to careers. There is an optional exam to take as well that will cement your learning and provide evidence of professional development.

To take the course and gain access when you like as often as you like go HERE