Squiggly Careers

Promotions are a career focus for lots of people, but they are not always possible for everyone. Whether a promotion is motivating because of pay or more power, the opportunity to work with new people or do more of the work you love (and less of the work you don't), there are other alternatives you can explore to get what you want from work. If you feel like you can't get promoted, we don't want y...

This week, Helen and Sarah talk about how trying to make everything great can get in the way of your growth. They discuss how to practice a 'good enough' approach to reduce pressure and accelerate your progress. Their mindset matrix will help you self-assess how a need for control affects your work and they share 5 ideas to adapt your approach and recognise when it's good to let go. More ways to l...

This week, Helen and Sarah talk about the women whose work has made a difference to their development. From authors to academics, sponsor and supporters, Helen and Sarah will help you to think through your own career development community. If you’re in search of some new sources of inspiration, this could be a good episode for you! More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our Squiggl...

This week, Helen and Sarah are talking about ways of working. They explore how to create clarity with roles and responsibilities, how to reduce confusion by reviewing your tools and tech and how to develop a unique culture with rhythms and rituals. More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our Squiggly Careers PodBook: https://rb.gy/orb0n5 2. Sign-up for PodMail, a weekly summary of t...

This week, Helen talks to journalist and author of 'You're not listening' Kate Murphy. Together they discuss why distractions are affecting our ability to listen and simple ways you can upgrade your listening skills including team improvision exercises and some propmts to reflect on the quality of your conversations. To learn more about Kate and her work head to https://www.journalistkatemurphy.co...

This week, Sarah and Helen talk about how a need to achieve can get in the way of your growth. They help you to assess whether you are an overachiever, explore the implications for your development and discuss how to gain more perspective and increase your performance. For more on this topic, pre-order Emma Gannon's new book The Success Myth now: https://bit.ly/TheSuccessMyth More ways to learn ab...

In this Ask the Expert episode of the squiggly careers podcast Sarah has a conversation with author and founder David Erixon about the topic of Doing by Learning. Together they discuss what learning through experiences really looks like, what the challanges are and the practical actions we can all take to make learning part of our day to day. David's article: https://medium.com/hacker-maker-teache...

In the final episode of the Squiggly Soft Skills Series, Helen and Sarah talk about the topic of Stress Tolerance. They borrow insights from 2 books to support the conversation. Helen reads Widen the Window by Elizabeth A. Stanley PHD and Sarah reviews When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate. Together they share insights, ideas and actions to support your stress tolerance at work. More ways to learn a...

In this week's episode Helen and Sarah talk about the skill of social influence as part of the four-part soft skills series. Helen reads Techniques of Social Influence by Dariusz Dolinski and Sarah reviews Invisible Influence by Jonan Berger. Together they share insights, ideas and actions to develop your skills of social influence at work. More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download ou...

This is the second episode of a four part series of the soft skills we need to succeed in our squiggly career. This week Helen and Sarah take on the topic of critical thinking and review two books to learn more. Helen reads Framers by Francis de Véricourt, Kenneth Cukier, and Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Sarah reads Harvard Business Review's brand new book THE HBR Guide to Critical Thinking. Toget...

Helen and Sarah are back with another squiggly skills series and this time they are focusing on the soft skills we all need to succeed. Over the next 4 weeks they’ll be exploring originality, critical thinking, social influence and stress tolerance. For each episode, they will read and review 2 books on the topic to understand more about the skill - what it is, why it matters and how we can all de...

Helen and Sarah's most recent article for Harvard Business Review is now live and in this episode, they bring it to life! Listen and learn about creative ideas to overcome the most common career challenges, such as; not having enough time to learn, not having people who can help you, not knowing what to focus on for your development and not having progression options in your organisation. You can...

In the final episode of the year, Helen and Sarah reflect on a series of questions to support awareness and action. You'll get behind-the-scenes insight into the reality of Helen and Sarah running a company together and having their toughest year yet in a 20-year long friendship. You'll also be able to take the questions they use to reflect on your own year and think about what you might do differ...

Helen and Sarah have reviewed the most downloaded podcast episodes and shared an idea for action from each of them in this week's Squiggly Careers podcast. Listen and learn about: 1. Improving your work/life fit 2. Getting the most from your 121’s 3. How to stop being a people pleaser 4. Exploring your progression possibilities 5. How to be a good manager 6. Increasing your assertiveness 7. How to...

In this weeks podcast you can hear Sarah in conversation with Sharmadean Reid, MBE, founder of The Stack World. Sharmadean shares her perspective and practical advice on networking, and explores the power of creating connections by asking curious questions. Together they also discuss the difference between networking and community and why friendship is fundamental part of our careers. More ways to...

Have you come across the term 'career cushioning'? It's essentially about how you protect your career from changes that might feel out of your control and actively invest in yourself to keep your options open. This week, Helen and Sarah talk through 3 ideas for action to help to create your career cushion and increase your role resilience. More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our...

Presence can seem like a tricky topic, so this week Helen and Sarah are making it practical. They talk about the 3 principles of presence and how language, your body and your use of power can all play a role. More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our Squiggly Careers PodBook: https://rb.gy/orb0n5 2. Sign-up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools https://...

This week, Helen and Sarah are talking about portfolio careers and how they can help you find more flexibility and freedom, increase your career resilience and stretch your strengths. They share lots of practical ideas for action to get you started including portfolio plotting. planning your pattern and balancing risk vs. reliability in your roles. More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Dow...

This week, Helen talks to the author of 'The First 90 Days' Michael D. Watkins about how to start a new job well. Together they discuss common transition traps, actions to take regularly in your role and how to make sure that you leave a job without burning your bridges. Read the First 90 Days: https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Days-Updated-Expanded-Strategies/dp/1422188612 More ways to learn about S...

When work feels out of control or a bit overwhelming, it can be a flag that we need to reassess our pace and perspective. This week, Helen and Sarah share practical ideas for action to slow down or speed up your work. They also help you to understand whether the perspective you're working with is helping you to do your best work. If you want to feel more in control of how work is making you feel,...

Are career myths holding you back? This week, Helen and Sarah are in myth-busting mode talking about the most common assumptions that get in the way of people's growth and sharing ideas for action to overcome them. So if you've ever felt that asking for help is a sign of weakness, or that going back means going backwards in your careers then this week's episode might be a useful listen for you. Mo...

Job applications are an important part of a recruitment process, however it can feel hard to work out how to stand out when there is so much you need to say. In this week's Squiggly Careers podcast episode, Helen and Sarah go back to basics and focus on the most important factors that often get overlooked. They also share their ideas for 'even better if' when you're looking to make a positive impr...

Feedback is a brilliant source of data for our development but too often fear and formality get in the way. This week, Helen and Sarah share 5 ideas for action for you to give and get faster and more frequent feedback. Listen for ideas on quick questions to action, hwo to be a strengths spotter and lots more. More ways to learn: 1. Download our Squiggly Careers PodBook: https://rb.gy/orb0n5 2. Sig...

Everyone faces knotty moments in squiggly careers and needs support to get unstuck. Learning how to take a coaching approach means that you can help people to help themselves, so they can navigate their way through tough times today and feel more confident about how they approach career challenges in the future. In this episode, Sarah and Helen talk through the mindset, skillset and toolkit to hel...

Your person values are an important thing to reflect on but increased self-awareness can only get you so far. Values are useful in managing a squiggly career but the awareness needs to be matched with action. Talking about values in teams helps to understand people better and spot opportunities to live your values more at work. This week, Helen and Sarah share 4 practical ways that teams can explo...