I’m going to have a project-based life rather than a job-based life.
David Plotz – Journalist
Work metaphors offer visuals, beacons, insights scripts, and lessons. Metaphors provide us a vision of what to expect from work. The career ladder is a great visual metaphor. A person started at the bottom and with the right effort climbed each rung. The career ladder told us what the organization, its work, and expectations were for each of us.
The career ladder is pretty much dead during COVID time. A career follows a zig-zag journey of knowledge acquisition and personal fulfillment. However, the ladder metaphor was inspirational because it implied there was always an opportunity for a promotion and a place to go.
One commonly heard metaphor is you’re becoming an actor in the theater of work. A VUCAN will move from job to job, project to project much like actors move from play to play, production to production on TV, radio, movies, and Broadway. Some roles are starring – most are supporting.
Or, your career moves are described in terms of horizontal or lateral progression in a webbed organization. You start at the middle and move outwards on one of the strands. Sometimes, you detour on a lateral strand to start a new career, job, or even a business. This is happening with VUCANs doing startups. Or, is your career a patchwork quilt? You develop value-adding skills and move around a chessboard or patchwork quilt. While these metaphors are not as powerful and inspirational as the career ladder, one will arise that most of us will accept.
Work Lesson Earned: We all have a vision or script how our work-life will enfold. It’s standard with all of us. We go to college. We learn about ourselves. We get a degree. We then get married, buy a house and have 2 ½ kids. In COVID time in a VUCA world, this scenario can change abruptly due to off-screen risk events. The COVID world view based on new work paradigms are shifting our expectations. Adaptability and resilience then become a work necessity. So, what’s your work and career metaphor? BTW: There is no right answer. Just an important fact of work that you need to think about.