Career Coaching isn't just for Executives

As a runner, I have experience in working with a running coach. I turn to my coach to help me map out a plan to achieve my running goals and navigate the obstacles I will inevitably face along the way. Having an expert coach has paid dividends with my running and yet I never had a coach where I spend most of my time...my career and work. In the past, career coaching seemed to be reserved for senior leadership and executives. It typically comes with a considerable price tag too. But that is changing; there are career coaching options for individual contributors and managers that don't sacrifice quality and price.

This summer, Siemens introduced a new virtual coaching platform option for its North American employees in partnership with the company BetterUp. "BetterUp pairs employees with a dedicated, expert coach to cultivate the leadership behaviors they need to thrive." It's a virtual coaching experience where you not only have access to a career coach but you can set up meetings with specialty coaches in the areas of nutrition, sleep, communication, diversity and inclusion, working parents and navigating uncertainty. Only 8% of the coaches who apply pass their rigorous selection process to join the team. That speaks to the quality of coaches on their bench! MIT has a 7.9% acceptance rate for comparison.

The Siemens Learning Campus US Team had the opportunity to test out the coaching services and short story is, we all gained a lot of value out of the experience! I learned a lot from my coach and want to share the value I gained with you.

At the beginning of the coaching session, I asked for help to determine my mid to long-term career goals. At times it feels as if I'm just taking each year as it comes, where I set goals on an annual basis but I'm not really looking beyond that. I yearn for a longer term goal to help me plan out development opportunities and ground myself in working towards a career goal. I thrive when I get to work a plan and check off the accomplishments.

Before we tackled my goal, we reviewed my strengths assessment and discussed the results. It turns out that I have a strength in strategic planning, the ability to think through ways to achieve future goals by working backwards from the desired outcome. I love planning and excel in mapping out my approach to achieve my life goals but I'm missing this element in my job which is making me feel a bit aimless.

My coach recommended the book Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. The book provides exercises that helped me zone in on what work activities drive my engagement, energy and a sense of flow. By doing these exercises and having open conversations with my coach, I have gained some clarity in what I want to focus on in my career in the immediate future. There is still work to be done to help me map out my mid and long-term career goals but it's all about taking it one step at a time, right?

I also leveraged the communication and sleep coaches. I had a big presentation coming up and scheduled time with an expert communication coach to better prepare me for the big day. As a result of coaching, preparation and practice, the presentation went very well and I received a lot of positive feedback on my performance. In regards to sleep, I was experiencing occasional nights of insomnia and sought some help to improve my sleep routine and tips to better deal with sleepless nights. Sleep has such a big impact on our health and performance, why shouldn't it be a part of coaching for our professional lives? Now, when my mind is busy, I have a better routine and tactics to prepare my body for sleep.

I plan to continue my coaching experience because it's helped me to identify what activities and values are important to me when I consider my career and how it intertwines with my life goals. I still need to button-up my long-term goals but I'm off to a great start in only the first two months. While I'm working on future oriented planning, the specialty coach option was helpful in supporting me with immediate needs as they popped up. Ultimately, life and work experiences impact one another so if I can improve my health, sleep, and ability to navigate uncertainty, it's going to create positive impacts in my job.

I'm very excited that this is now an option for employees at Siemens in North America. Our career is a journey from the beginning and we don't have to wait until we're in senior management to get professional advice on how to make it more meaningful and impactful. Take ownership of your career and explore if coaching is a good fit for you today because a little bit of quality coaching can go a long way!