Continuing with our series on the permissions women would like to give themselves, based on our work with groups of leaders. This one can seem a bit strange at first glance – "it’s ok to focus on my job and my career".

To illustrate one of the ways in which women sometimes put their jobs before their careers, I was coaching X who was very interested in an internal move but was having trouble getting herself to apply. When we explored it some more, she got in touch with the guilt of abandoning (that’s how she saw it) her current manager who had taken a big leap of faith in giving her the current role.

Another way that Marshall Goldsmith and Sally Helgesen talk about in their book “How Women Rise” is one I have personally lived out over the years. That is getting so focused on mastering the job to perfection that you are not taking actions that build long-term careers. Actions like building capability beyond what the current role demands, creating networks, crafting and nurturing a personal brand get relegated to “sometime later when I have more time”.

If you were to start focusing on your career along with your job, what’s the one thing you would start doing this week?https://www.navgati.in/icf-accredited-coach-training/