“Everything is hard before it is easy” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Picture yourself at a bustling fair, faced with a unique challenge: you have three crucial buckets to fill and carry while racing down a bumpy, twisty dirt road to a finish line you can’t see where amazing winnings beyond your wildest dreams await you and those you love. But, here’s the twist: you’ve only got two hands and these buckets are two heavy to carry for long all at once. Sound familiar?
So, what are these three metaphorical buckets in the context of your professional life?
- Mastering Your Skillset
- Taking Care of Your Health (yes, health is a full third of your professional life)
- “Playing the Game” (the unwritten rules of organizational politics)
How do we manage this impossible task? With balance? No. With wisdom, self-awareness, and finesse.
Let’s break down each “bucket” and explore how personalized coaching can be your game-changer in living the Three Bucket Philosophy.
Bucket 1 – Mastering Your Skillset
Stagnation is the enemy. The first bucket, Mastering Your Skillset, is about continually upgrading your knowledge and abilities. The world is changing rapidly, with new technologies and methodologies emerging constantly.
The Role of Coaching:
The key here is not just to keep up but to stay ahead. Individual or group coaching can make all the difference. A coach can help identify the realities of your current skill set, your career goals, and the gaps in between. They can guide you in creating a personalized plan for clarifying and achieving your goals while providing the accountability you need to stay on track. For instance, a 2019 study by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) revealed that 70% of individuals who receive coaching benefited from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills.
Bucket 2 – Taking Care of Your Health
The second bucket is all about your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Work-related stress is a significant health concern, with the World Health Organization labeling it a “worldwide epidemic.” Tending to your health is not just about avoiding illness; it’s about cultivating a state of wellness that enables you to perform at your peak. Not just for all the good it brings to your life in general, but for the success of your career. If the wheels come off your proverbial health bus, guess what? They come off the career bus too. And by then, you’ve usually sacrificed other people and things you hold very dear.
The Role of Coaching:
Here’s where a great career coach steps in, offering strategies for stress management, work-life balance, and emotional intelligence. Coaches provide tools and techniques for mindfulness, resilience, and self-care, which are vital in managing the pressures of professional life. They can also help create a personalized wellness plan that fits into your busy schedule. Let’s face it, while the wellness program your employer offers may be cool, well-intended, and clearly designed to enable good stuff, that alone isn’t going to carry your health bucket. You have to do that and you have to do it with clear goals and a plan for how to achieve them. Don’t let stress dictate your success. Explore our personalized coaching solutions for peak work-life balance.
Bucket 3 – Navigating Organizational Politics
The third bucket, Navigating Organizational Politics, is often the most overlooked yet crucial part of professional success. It’s about understanding and influencing the complex dynamics and unwritten rules of how power is wielded and influence peddled in your of your organization. It involves building networks, recognizing power structures, and learning how to communicate and negotiate effectively for what you want without burning bridges or sacrificing too much treasure.
The Role of Coaching:
Coaching here focuses on developing your interpersonal and communication skills. It helps you identify key stakeholders in your organization, understand their interests, and align your work to create mutual benefits. Coaches also provide guidance in conflict resolution, building influence, and fostering meaningful professional relationships.
The Two-Handed Carry in a 3-Bucket World
Now, back to our two hands and three buckets. The art of professional success lies in the awareness of which bucket you are focusing on at any given time and recognizing when to shift your attention. It’s about understanding that you might not be able to give equal attention to all three areas simultaneously, and that’s okay.
The Role of Coaching:
Coaching plays a crucial role here as well. A great career coach facilitates confidence and execution in setting priorities, managing time and energy effectively, and making strategic decisions about where to focus and when. A coach acts as a sounding board, offering an outside perspective that can help you see which bucket needs more attention and how to time your actions to keep each bucket moving with you.
For instance, you might excel in your skillset but neglect your health, leading to burnout. A coach can help you recognize this imbalance and work effectively towards rectifying it. This is not about achieving a perfect “balance” but about making informed choices and adjustments to ensure that all aspects of your professional life get the attention they need, albeit not always at the same time or with the same energy.
In your professional journey, these three buckets – Skillset, Health, and Organizational Politics – are your constant companions if you are self-aware and have the tools you need to stay aware of what you need to chart the race ahead. Coaching is a catalyst that helps you manage them effectively. It’s about finesse, not force; it’s about strategic choices, not just hard work. By engaging in one-on-one or group coaching, you equip yourself with the tools and insights to navigate your professional path more effectively.
“The problem with work is that it gets in the way of life. And the problem with life is that it stops you from working. It’s like life is saying, ‘Hey, come enjoy me,’ and work is saying, ‘Don’t listen to her, she’s drunk.'” – Dave Barry
Master the art of strategic career growth and navigate organizational politics with finesse. Connect with our Career Development experts to learn how!
