At the time of writing this X Factor has been won by “Little Mix” but their rise to Christmas number one is seriously under threat by Chivenor and Plymouth Military Wives Choir. Here the shared journey, growing trust and support that these women have experienced has created a momentum to make their song “Wherever you are” number one for Christmas.
The theme of sharing, trust and support came over strongly at our Windmills 2011 event held last month. We used part of the day to look at the barriers we all know people have in moving themselves around the five stage cycle of:
So we asked what “fresh thinking” could help. Overwhelmingly the contributions took the theme of “others”.
In a context where currently mistrust of politicians, bankers and the media is prevalent the practitioners that worked with us were clear that to help individuals we need to look just as closely at how we do this rather than just what we do. Suggestions were made around....
- Mentoring
- Buddying
- Being part of something
- Engaging in a community
- Sharing experiences
- Role modelling
- Peer supporting
- Creating and using forums
- Developing and using networks
This theme of “others” was as relevant for us as individuals managing this five stage cycle for ourselves as it is for us as practitioners assisting clients in navigating this cycle too.
Windmills has “giving” and being “collaborative” as two of its values but we wish to develop this further. Our community is the obvious route and Face book and LinkedIn will be part of this in the New Year but we also want to develop fresh thinking about how we can create that shared usage and application of our portfolio. Is that peer mentoring? Employee engagement with young people through CSR agendas? Cross-sector links? Community empowerment? We are still developing our thoughts.
What we are clear on is the models of the past are not fit for purpose now so how do we develop a careers blueprint suitable for a new year?
We’re thinking but would love to know your thoughts too?
