Squiggly Careers

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...

Career karma is the benefit we create from taking a 'giving' approach to building relationships. This week, Sarah and Helen share 5 ways you can give to the relationships that support your career development to create a community that gives back to you over the long-run. 1. Catch-up on past episodes and download our PodSheets https://www.amazingif.com/listen/ 2. Sign-up for PodMail, a weekly summa...

This week Helen and Sarah are exploring how to make difficult careers decisions. When emotions take over it can be hard to see through a situation, but in this episode, you'll hear how to take a structured approach to your decision making which reduces the emotion, creates clarity and helps you navigate your way through the difficulty. Ways to learn more: 1. Catch-up on past episodes and download...

Is it possible to take control of your career in a world of work that’s full of change? Helen and Sarah think it is IF you focus on the right things in the right way. So, instead of over planning our careers they talk about increasing your control by defining what you want and developing the skills and support you need. By increasing your clarity and focusing on the factors that are in your contro...

In this weeks podcast Helen and Sarah discuss why we want to take control of our relationship with work rather than leave it to chance. Together they discuss the trend of quiet quitting and how the psychological contract we have with work has changed. They then explore how to reflect on the relationship you want to have with work and how to use the Care/Create framework to make changes that matter...

Helen and Sarah bring back Bruce Daisley to the podcast to talk about his brilliant new book Fortitude. They explore the 3 foundations of fortitude to increase your adaptability and resilience to all the inevitable change and challenge we experience in Squiggly Careers. Fortitude: Unlocking the Secrets of Inner Strength Hardcover is out now - https://uk.bookshop.org/books/fortitude-unlocking-the-s...

This month, Helen and Sarah have been focusing on Squiggly Careers 'life skills'. So far they have covered health, sleep and money and in this final episode of the series they are exploring the role of relationships on your happiness in work. They explore attachment theory and insights from Amy Gallo's new book 'Getting Along' and share practical actions to create the strong foundations for squigg...