The Crew Coach: Finding Your Flow at Work

Many people, (myself included), spend their early adult years bimbling* through life having a good time without putting too much thought into where their choices are taking them. For many of us (again, my hand is up) this is not completely unconscious, because What You Want To Do With Your Life is a Big Question, and thinking about it usually makes your brain hurt and sometimes also even makes your heart ache.

The thing is there are so many options out there, and we can find ourselves drawn to and distracted by a thousand bright shiny ideas, with the fear that committing to a single steady career path could mean a one way ticket (aka life sentence) to the most dreaded of all destinations: Boredomville.

What if you’re barking up the wrong tree? What if you climb half way up that career ladder only to find out it’s leaning against the wrong building? What if you clamber all the way to the top only to realise the view from up there sucks?

It doesn’t help that the people advising us are often just as clueless as us about what we should do with our lives. Career advisors, teachers, parents, friends and family all have their own agendas and perspectives and we can easily find ourselves being pressured to conform to other people’s opinions, even when our gut is screaming ‘no!’

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could simply do some kind of test that just gave you the answer? What if you could look at the full range of occupational opportunities and see at a glance exactly how your specific skills and strengths matches up to it? A unique diagram revealing exactly where your talents lie across a world of choices,  revealing a range of ideal occupations for you to thrive and succeed in?

I agree – and in fact I looked for something like this for a long time, because much of the work I do with my private clients involves first helping them get really clear on their long-term life goals, by answering that big scary (what should I do with my life) question so they can confidently create a career strategy that will ultimately lead them to their dream destination (and still have lots of fun along the way!).

I'd done some personal profiling tests in the past so I began by researching systems like this, but I found all of them lacking in various ways. There was a lot of jargon and they were mostly all tailored towards a corporate context – which isn’t much use for people who don’t want to work in a corporate environment!

Finally after much research I came across a profiling system called Talent Dynamics, and the more I looked into it, the more I began to realise it ticked all the right boxes. I tested it out on a few people (including myself) and everyone was amazed at how accurate and insightful the results were.

I personally found it answered some really big questions about why I’m so great at some stuff and so absolutely horrendously bad at other things. For example, you might recall I find ‘implementation’ really difficult (remember that’s my word for the year, right?) It turns out this is because I only have 4% aptitude in that area (cringe). I’m far better placed coming up with the ideas and building a team of people to do the implementing, than actually doing the implementing myself. (Boy was it a relief to hear that!)

The upshot of all this was in December last year I decided this was the dream test I'd been looking for and undertook an intensive course to become an accredited Talent Dynamics ‘flow consultant’. This fancy title simply means I am now even more qualified to strategically help clients find their ‘path of least resistance’ where everything flows and falls into place effortlessly. We’ve all experienced that amazing feeling from time to time (even if only fleetingly) but the trick is to know how to shape your career so you are in that natural state of ‘flow’ as much as possible… ultimately so you can stay there all the time.

Because I’ve had so much success with this tool I’m now giving this to profile test to all my private VIP clients as a complimentary bonus and a brilliant starting point for our work together. Obtaining their Talent Dynamics profile report allows us to begin with the absolute certainty of knowing exactly what they are best placed to be doing in order to be living life, hopping skipping and dancing along the path of least resistance. Everyone I’ve used this tool with so far has gained at least one if not many hallelujah type insights that have gone on to really shape the career direction they’ve taken from there.

If you’re interested in obtaining your own personal profile you can read more about this and click through to take the test online right here. 

Have you taken this or another profile test? I’d love to know what you think, post your comments below!

 

*Definition of Bimble according to the Urban Dictionary: To amble without real aim, yet in a friendly and harmless manner.

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Alison Rentoul is ex yacht crew with 15 years of yachting experience, and a professionally trained personal development coach working with crew worldwide, helping them realise their highest potential at every level. See www.thecrewcoach.com for more information.