Zena Everett is a London-based motivational speaker, executive coach specialising in career confidence, work goals productivity and performance issues. Her book – Mind Flip - is a must-read career manual for anyone looking to change jobs, achieve promotion or find more fulfilling work. Written for all career stages from Graduate to Granddad, including Mum Returners, disabled workers, over 50s, women in business and the new self-employed, it is the culmination of Zena’s many years of working in recruitment and career coaching. Mind Flipping is to flip your focus away from yourself and instead look outwards – on to the value you add and the problems you, uniquely, can solve for other people. Graham Norton believes that this philosophy will help you transform the way you look at your career – for ever! The book provides you with everything you need to fire up your career, including a foreword by the DeeDee Doke, Editor of Recruiter Magazine, on the future of recruitment and talent management.

Zena Everett

Zena Everett

Feeling stuck at work? Frustrated? Lost focus and confidence?

Be your own career coach and re-ignite your career.  Here’s the process to figure out how good you are, what you want next and how to get it.  It’s how successful people get up the career ladder and skip a few rungs on the way.

  1. Remind yourself of how good you really are.  What have you achieved at work? What are you most proud of?  When did people say ‘thank you’ or give you great feedback?  Get these down on paper and remind yourself of how much you have contributed at work.
  2. Get some evidence and data for these outcomes: percentage improvement, performance against target, against your peers etc.  You now have proof for just how good you are. 
  3. Think back to when you were happiest at work. Drill down into the details: what was the task you were doing, what skills were you using, who were you working with, what was the context, and so on.  We are usually happiest when we are using our best skills, doing our best work.   What are your best skills?
  4. What are your top five values? What’s important to you? These are like a GPS navigation system for your career.  If they don’t align with the people you work with or for, then it’s time to move on and find your tribe.
  5. Next, you need to figure out your goal.  If you knew that you couldn’t fail at what you set your mind to, so success is guaranteed, then what would you aspire to?  Could you raise the bar?  If you were one of your male colleagues what would you aspire to? Now you have a big, exciting, career goal.
  6. How important is this to you?  Visualise what achieving this goal will give to you and get an image in your mind that will remind you of what you are working towards.  This will keep you on track of what you are trying to achieve.
  7. Break your goal into steps. What is the next career move you need to take, or experience you need to gain, or training that you need, in order to achieve your long-term goal?  Make sure you look, act and behave like the person in the next role above you.
  8. Put together a simple but memorable career statement that sums you up: this is what I have achieved in the past, this is that I want to do next and these are the skills, knowledge or networks that I will bring with me.  Think of a good case study that illustrates this.  People think in pictures not words, so a description or metaphor will stick in their minds.
  9. Now get out there and ask for what you want.  Schedule a career conversation with your manager or HR, get out to your network and share your ambitions.  You aren’t selling yourself here in a cheesy way – you are selling what you can do for them. Pitch them your career statement and tell them the next step you want. 
  10. Take control.  Don’t lose sight of your goals or dreams.   Constantly look for opportunities to achieve your long-term objectives.  Be visibly good at your job and don’t be frightened to share your successes.   Put your hand up for opportunities that give you relevant experience.  Take responsibility whenever you can.  Keep nurturing your network and find mentors who believe in you.  Look up!

Mind Flip by Zena Everett, Filament Publishing, £14.99, available online and in all good bookshops

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