Applied Stories and Career Transformation

Clearly, I have a special interest in how applied stories can be used as a career transformation tool. This is particularly important today, when many in my profession are questioning the validity of the traditional 'vocation assessment' as a career coaching tool. Obviously, these are still of some importance to us, for many reasons they often simply don't work (at least in the way they are supposed to work).

For example, a 'reliable' vocational assessment needs to measured, or 'normed' against a particular group of people who are supposed to be representative of the population at large. Unfortunately, coming up with some parameters to describe a 'normal' population is much more difficult today - in the global village we now live in, previous distinct societies in which cultural, socio-economic, religious and political ideas were once separate but which now often blend and clash. When many of the career tools were invented (pre-1970s), the person they were geared to was Western, white, middle class. At a recent career conference, I heard Dr Mary McMahon say almost exactly the same thing, except that she added 'male' to the list. It should be easy to see why so many members of the global population would 'fail' in these tests.

Another reason vocational assessments often don't work is to do with the way they are delivered. Many people don't respond well to 'words on a page' and/or have difficulty selecting how much or how little a statement applies to them. People with particular personality types will continue to say, 'That depends', when trying to choose between A and B answers to a question. We do not think in black and white, so why have a test that makes us do it, especially when this is a possible precursor to a major life event.

Applied stories are not culturally- or otherwise-centric; they are person-centric - but with the acknowledgement that the person is situated culturally and in a range of other contexts that are peculiar to their situation.

Person-centric means they are told using the individual's own words, and in a way that feels comfortable for them. The career coach/story practitioner is merely a listener and reflector, a privileged receiver of the story that unfolds.

This implies that the applied storyteller is also the main protagonist/hero. Generally, this is the aim, however, for some reasons, at times the applied storyteller may be a professional storyteller/career coach who engages with the protagonist in a meaningful way and is able to 'get into their skin'. The best illustration of this is to compare the hero storyteller as the autobiographer, and the professional as the biographer.

There are many ways a particular story may be applied. In a career transformation, stories can be used in a past, present, or future sense.

'Past' examples might describe points in time when the person went through a significant career transition, or a time when a choice was made to stay in a job rather than leave it. It is also possible to undertake a retrospective of the person's life in order to highlight moments of transformation.

'Present' examples relate to current dilemmas a client faces; these range from A-B choices about their next role to progress their career, right through to those facing a career crisis of one kind or other. These stories are also useful in highlighting competition from other aspects of a person's life, such as a young family may impact on his or her ability to spend long periods away from home.

'Future' examples are used to equip a client to make the best use of happenstance, or 'surprise moments', by grabbing opportunities that might otherwise be missed or passed over through lack of readiness. These stories might include hypotheticals, or long term goals.

Ultimately, applied stories that describe career transformation should be of most benefit to the protagonist, the person who is telling the story or who the story is about. The telling of these stories, however, will usually benefit others who face similar difficulties - after all, who hasn't been inspired by someone else's transformational journey?