Navigating the end-of-career transition is tough

And organizations don’t do a good job of helping people through it

By Sandra Oliver and Antoine Laganiere

Impact’s Founder, Sandra Oliver, and Impact coach, Antoine Laganiere, often talk about new and relevant issues in today’s business environment They usually have very different perspectives and they love the opportunity to look at the world through a different lens.

Sandra and Antoine met recently to chat about two major career transitions that are relevant to both of them personally, and that they talk about a lot with clients. From starting a career to ending one, they reflect on their own life stages, discuss what makes these pivotal times so challenging – and what organizations can do to make them easier for their people.

Sandra: The end of our careers is an emotional time. We’re often faced with decisions we don’t know how to make or questions we don’t know the answers to. We might think we want one thing – like continuing to work, taking on Board positions, or retiring altogether – and then realize after a few weeks or months, that the reality is very different. We feel torn between the need to stay busy and relevant, and the desire to slow down and do different things after a whole career filled with challenging responsibilities.

Part of what’s wrapped up in this transition is loss. We fear losing the stimulation of  spending our time contributing to an organization like we did for so many years. We worry about  missing conversations with our peers every day. Being challenged by interesting problems and engaged in finding solutions. Receiving a paycheck like we used to. We worry about being bored. At the same time, we’re ready for a change and to savour different experiences.

Antoine: Younger generations find the beginnings of their careers challenging, as well. What’s different is their current cultural values. Younger generations are asking important questions of themselves:  How am I feeling about my life? What do I want? What’s important to me? How do I take care of myself? What does my career mean to me?

I think the younger generations have been given the opportunity to explore these questions at a younger age, in part because of the hard work of the previous generation (think of kids now vs. kids in the 60s). It’s more acceptable to ask these questions today, and there’s more time, opportunity and resources to help young people explore them.

And as part of this process, younger people are questioning some of the more (relatively speaking) “traditional paths”: having a family, making a lot of money, having a high status job. We have so many more options available to us, so many more ways of living our lives and being happy – all of which are more personal and subjective than ever.

It’s great progress, culturally, as we’re individualizing what it means to find our purpose and be happy, but it’s also very difficult to navigate because we need to do the inner work on our own, and not simply follow culturally agreed upon paths. This is happening in all areas of life (think marriage, for example). In a way this always happens when values shift; we create a new reality without providing the map for it. This inevitably causes some anxiety because people are unsure where to go and what meaning to ascribe to situations, which is our natural impulse.

The end-of-career transition is similar. We’re finished with a part of our life and now we need to figure out the rest, but there aren’t many maps to help out, and the more “traditional paths” (relatively speaking) are being questioned (i.e., just relax, travel and play golf for a couple decades). We now have more options at the end of our careers, just like those of us at the beginning of our careers do. At the same time, in both cases, we don’t have many maps to navigate those options.

Sandra: The lack of time plays a significant role for older generations. As we approach the end of our careers, it’s often a marathon right down to the last work day.

In reality, it takes many years (two to five for most people) to move to a new plan because of all the emotions involved, the feelings of loss, the desire to change, and the need to build new ways of thinking.

To make it through this transition, we have to pay attention to our emotions and honour them, and really think about what we want. As senior leaders, we don’t spend enough time thinking and planning for this journey – and as organizations, we don’t do enough to help people through it.

Antoine: Organizations often provide objective support, like retirement processes and programs. What we really need to focus on is subjective support to help individuals do the deep work of thinking about how, why and what to do next. With enough time and space, people can do it on their own. They can think about and try to understand what drives happiness and fulfillment for them. And then how to build that into their lives in ways that are achievable and sustainable. It’s a process that can take years, but it’s necessary.

I think reframing the experience can help. Thinking of the next phase in our careers – whether at the beginning or the end – as, “what do I want to give?”, rather than, “what do I want to get?”. It can make the transition so much easier because it takes the pressure off.

Coaching can help because it provides an independent and supportive third party who understands the complexities of career transitions and can help guide individuals on their paths. Coaching can help them get to where they want to be faster and build the right skills to make this ongoing journey sustainable.

Sandra: Coaching also helps organizations and their people be more intentional and have much more open dialogue around end-of-career transitions. This means we can change the culture to accommodate more of what people want to do as they wind down their decades-long careers. Do they want to work part-time? Serve as a mentor or coach? Provide senior leadership on key strategic initiatives? Support the Board? Or serve as ambassadors for Talent Acquisition? This way, our people don’t feel lost or discarded. And as businesses, we can continue to access these senior resources and benefit from their knowledge and experience.

Antoine: We can make the end of a career a more thoughtful and productive transition that benefits everyone.

Sandra: Yes, and we can help everyone find more joy in their careers – from beginning to end.

How Impact can help

Impact can provide group and individual coaching programs for your people to help them navigate important career transitions. Prized offerings your people can request to help make these evolutions easier and more productive for them. Doing this for key people at every stage, every year, will help everyone in your organization as they move forward and share their learnings with their teams, peers and the people they mentor.