Portfolio Careers' & How to Build One
Take a few moments to reflect on where you are in your career right now. Did you ever picture yourself in your current job or with your organization? How different is it from what you imagined it would be when you started your career journey? Or if you are just embarking on your career are you wondering where it might take you?
As I celebrate my 24th anniversary at Lendlease Property this week it’s a great time to use this milestone to reflect on my own career journey and what made this possible. While I know that in today’s world spending virtually all my career with the one company is unusual I’ve had a number of different roles during that time.
What I’ve learned about building a portfolio career within the one business can apply to anyone wanting to self-manage their career.
My initial training as a project manager led me to join Lendlease as a Retail Development Manager, and I held various traditional property related roles including Project Engineer, Project Manager, and Development Manager, for my first ten years at Lendlease.
However, all that changes with the opportunity to be seconded to the UN in Sri Lanka to assist in the post-tsunami (2004) relief. For the first time, my role had real purpose – providing shelter for people who had none. This was a life-changing experience that gave me a new perspective on work and a deeper appreciation for how my skills could really add value.
Upon returning to Australia I took up a role in Sustainability that reflected my nascent interest in passive solar design and reducing ecological footprint. At the time I had just built and was living in a passive solar / low energy home. This led to another ten-year career turn in Australia and the UK leading sustainability for Lendlease Retail.
Having spent ten years creating healthy, low impact workplaces, I started to explore the links between wellbeing and workplace performance, engagement, and the attraction and retention of employees. The sustainability of human capital seemed to be a logical extension from environmental sustainability, and it aligned perfectly with my interest in helping people be their best both at work and at home. So, I returned to Australia to develop ‘wellbeing’ within Lendlease Property as the Head of Health and Wellbeing.
So what have I learnt about building a portfolio career?
1. Learning never stops – as the world of work continues to change life-long learning is more critical now than ever. Don’t limit this to formal education or professional development courses, as self-directed and on-the-job learning are a vital part of continuous learning. Research demonstrates that we only transfer about 30 percent of what we learn in courses into our workplace. That means about 70 percent of learning can come from applying our knowledge, drawing on our experiences, trials and errors, and interactions with others. Workplace coaches and mentors can help us maximize these everyday learning opportunities.
My recent training to become an executive coach is an example of how non-mainstream education can help open opportunities at work, as I am now translating the science of wellbeing, and put this into action using these coaching skills.
2. Be prepared to self-manage - you’re in the driver’s seat - own your career. You can’t control all the circumstances or events that happen in your company, but look for and capture learning opportunities at every stage. Even when the path ahead doesn’t seem clear, or you’re unsure of the next steps, it’s important to try and do the best possible job you can in that moment.
When I’ve taken this approach, opportunities have invariably arisen. And while not every role has been a joy, on reflection there’s always been plenty of learning from each step that I’ve been able to apply later.
3. Use your strengths – researchers have found that understanding and developing what we’re good at and enjoy doing can fuel your career journey with energy, motivation, and meaning. When you craft your strengths into your work by making even small changes to what you do each day, how you do it, and how you interact with others at work you will feel more satisfied, engaged, resilient and happier in our job.
Some of my top character strengths are curiosity, zest and a love of learning, and I continually look for ways to craft and build on these strengths into my work. I will share more about job crafting in my next blog.
4. Be clear on your purpose - Having a sense of purpose will keep you motivated and engaged in your career like nothing else. I realized this after the first 10 years of work and it has guided me ever since.
People often say that my current roles suits me perfectly as, I have always taken a keen interest in the impact of good health, now as a translator/ enabler/ change advocate I can enjoy working on my own wellbeing whilst at the same time helping others to do the same. I am a strong believer that small positive steps each day can help people on their journey to better health.
5. Employment is fluid – some work roles are being partly or wholly displaced and new ones continue to emerge. The most in demand jobs currently available didn’t exist ten years ago. Researchers and business experts from across the world predict that 85 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t yet been invented. It’s predicted that not only will we require new skills for the new occupations, it’s most likely that we’ll also need a very different suite of skill sets for the roles that will remain.
The world of work is changing and twice in my career at Lendlease I designed and stepped into work roles that did not exist when I started with the company yet using my strengths (curiosity, zest & a love of learning), I worked it out. So can you.
Your career is like your health. You can’t expect other people to manage either of them, so it’s important to ensure you take positive steps towards managing both. After all, as we all are living longer, so too most of us will be working longer. And finding purpose, meaning and engagement in our careers can not only help us bring our best selves to work, but also help us be happier and healthier.