There are many ways to help a person to shape their career. Sometimes it can involve helping them to do satisfying work and earn a salary that supports their chosen lifestyle.
Sometimes it involves going another step and helping them to develop a positive differentiator. This can increase their chances of them being considered for doing stimulating work and delivering success.
The following pages describe how this approach works. Let’s explore how a person can be helped to take the following steps.
They can build on their strengths to
develop their positive differentiator
Imagine that you are helping somebody who is presently in work but wants to develop a more satisfying career. One approach is: a) to clarify the person’s strengths; b) to clarify how to develop these into being a positive differentiator.
How you do this will depend on the person’s strengths and specific goals. The following pages describe how this approach worked with one person I mentored. They worked in sports but similar principles can be followed to help people in other fields.
Dave, a highly qualified football coach, had hit a major obstacle. Finishing playing at the age of 22, he worked in club academies and threw himself into gaining coaching badges. Six years later he got the highest possible qualification recognised by FIFA.
Continuing on an upwards spiral, Dave’s career saw him take academy roles in top clubs. Then came a shock. The new manager taking over his current club decided to replace the academy staff with his own friends.
Dave applied for many jobs but suffered disappointment. Some clubs did not reply, some said he was over-qualified, some chose to recruit retired players with few coaching qualifications.
Needing to make ends meet, Dave began offering specific coaching sessions to lower league and amateur clubs. This bore some fruit – mainly through being hired by people in his network – but produced little money.
Dave and I then began working together. The first step was to get more work to pay the bills. This proved to be testing but he managed to get enough to pay the mortgage and feed his family.
The second step was to work towards achieving his long-term goals. Bearing these in mind, we began by clarifying Dave’s strengths. These included the following:
He was positive, personable and professional;
He was a great practitioner and got rave reviews for the coaching sessions he led in the classroom and on the field;
He was a good writer who could produce articles that described practical tools that players and coaches could use to achieve success.
How to build on these strengths? After some discussion, the approach we took was for him to publish articles in coaching magazines and on websites such as Linked In. At first he was uncertain about this approach. He expressed this view in the following way:
“But I will be giving all my secrets away.”
Dave needed a shop window, however, to show his knowledge. Whilst some people may steal the ideas, publishing articles was one way he could reach a wider audience. It would also help to develop a positive differentiator.
He produced around ten articles over the next six months. These focused on topics such as:
How to set the tone when taking over as a coach … How to translate a playing style into action on the field … How to make good use of set-pieces … How to learn from the world’s most successful academies.
Dave continued to apply for full-time jobs in clubs. This proved dispiriting and he began to lose confidence. One key issue was that he needed to reach a certain target audience. These were modern thinkers in the game who would be more likely to appreciate what he offered.
The breakthrough came twelve months after leaving his former club. An international football consultancy called to see if he may be interested in doing freelance work. They positioned this in the following way.
“We like the articles you have published. The themes you describe relate to the workshops we run for football clubs across the world.
“Would you be interested in working as a freelancer and contributing to these workshops? We provide coaches with many frameworks, but you could bring these to life with your experiences.
“We anticipate you would do around six days a month for us at a rate of £500 a day plus expenses. The workshops would be in Europe, USA and South America. Would you be interested?”
Dave would have preferred a full-time role in a club but this was a great opportunity. Whilst the money was welcome, the bonus was working with famous clubs across the world.
The previous twelve months had been difficult, but developing his positive differentiator had paid off. This led to the next step that is often taken by some professionals.
They can deliver success based
on their positive differentiator
Dave threw himself into contributing to the workshops but there was a challenge. The consultancy company majored on certain themes when running sessions for coaches. They therefore wanted Dave to relate his input to these themes.
He found this difficult at first. During one of our conversations he expressed this in the following way.
“I am not sure I can fit in with their approach. The frameworks they give are good but theoretical. I feel cramped trying to follow that approach.”
During our sessions we discussed how he could take certain steps. Eventually he found it was possible:
To build on several of key themes that the company focused on during the workshops;
To complement these with specific football examples and practical tips that resonated with the coaches;
To get permission from the company to translate the themes into action by adding several on-field sessions to the workshop.
The company began to recognise that Dave’s expertise helped to differentiate them from others in their field. They offered him more work – though still in a freelance role – including leading practical workshops for football academies across the world.
Dave’s work went well for eighteen months but then came Covid. Whilst the company tried to adapt – such as offering virtual mentoring sessions for coaches – it eventually decided to cut costs. This led to his role disappearing.
He had built savings from his freelance work but he worried about the future. Whilst the football world closed down, he chose to publish more articles on social media and in coaching magazines. This helped to position what he could offer after Covid.
Dave managed to land some project work when the restrictions were eased. The football authorities in his country advertised a role that involved auditing their academies. It was not his ideal job but his track record qualified him for the role.
Being fully professional, Dave did a fine job on the project, but he worried about how his career was developing. He wanted to get back into full-time work with a club. This is when events provided fresh opportunities.
Many football clubs had taken a big financial hit during the pandemic. This led to some rethinking their approaches. Whilst the elite clubs could still pay huge transfer fees, some others needed to produce their own players. This called for investing in their academies.
Dave’s fortunes then changed dramatically. A person he had worked with in the past was recruiting academy staff for a Premier League club. The club had decided:
To clarify the club’s philosophy and playing style;
To employ coaches who would translate this playing style into action in the academy;
To produce players who could play for the first team or make a living in football.
The club wanted somebody to oversee this process at academy level. The ideal candidate would be highly qualified, a good practitioner and have experience working in different cultures. Would Dave be interested?
Dave performed well at the interview stage and was offered a permanent position. He is now heading the process of encouraging the academy coaches and players:
To follow the club’s philosophy and playing style;
To translate this into practice both on and off the field;
To continue to develop as people and professionals.
This sounds like a fairy tale but it actually happened. Dave realises it may take years for the approach to bear fruit, however, so he is also taking the next step that is followed by some professionals.
They can share knowledge based
on their positive differentiator
Dave has learned valuable lessons over the years. Bearing these in mind, he is following a three-pronged strategy for shaping the future. He is continuing:
To perform superb work helping to produce players for the Premier League club;
To speak at football seminars and publish articles that highlight what academies do to develop their coaches and players;
To run occasional guest coaching sessions for international under-21 teams.
Dave does all this with the blessing of the club. They ask him to follow certain guidelines when doing outside work, however, such as not disclosing confidential information. But they also see benefits.
These include building the club’s reputation for being a great place for coaches and young players. They also want to make the club attractive to parents of promising youngsters.
Today some people in the football world have become more open about the principles they aim to follow. Whilst it may seem counter-intuitive to share knowledge, they recognise the old adage:
Many people will be interested in the principles you follow but few of them will be serious about actually putting these into practice.
Dave’s presentations are well-received at seminars. Afterwards he is sometimes approached by young coaches who want to know how he planned his career. He describes this in the following way.
“They say things like: ‘Your career seems to have proceeded in a logical way. How did you manage to plan it to get to your present role?’ If only they knew.”
Different people craft their careers in different ways. One approach is to build on their strengths and develop a positive differentiator. It is then to be savvy, do superb work and deliver success.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to follow elements of the positive differentiator approach?
You may want to do this when helping another person or maybe when shaping your own professional life. How can you apply this approach in your own way? What may happen as a result of taking these steps?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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