Career Conversations

Chapter 10 Structuring unstructured conversations

‘Conversation. What is it? A mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all.'

Guy de Maupassant

It might seem paradoxical but there is a structure to having unstructured career conversations. In my experience of coaching leaders, or directly coaching employees in my various roles as a leader, I have found a narrative approach to career conversations to be one of the most effective ways of highlighting patterns and themes and potential pathways forward in career work. It may appear to employees as a ‘freewheeling' conversation. What sits behind this approach, however, is a structure that informs the language, shape and direction of what is discussed and how the emerging information is used. In the context of career conversations, a narrative approach should guide an employee to tell their story by following a chronological sequence of events.

The narrative approach

The narrative approach is particularly effective as it has the potential to unlock in the minds of employees suppressed or forgotten events or achievements they have experienced over the course of their career and life. They could be aware of an event but not regard it as an achievement — a tenure milestone, for example, or an instance when they helped a colleague to succeed.

Helping your employees tell their story assists them in constructing a timeline of the events ...