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What do you do when you achieve something? Whoop wildly and crack open the champagne 🍾 Fe

Do you ever use the C-word? Do you have people using it on you? I’m talking about Confidence of course. If we show humility or hesitation, doubt or deference then someone usually pops up to say “you should be more confident.” I imagine they think they’re being helpful.

I’ll start with three interesting facts about myself – I’ve never been to university, I’ve never had a boss and I spent 3 years living in a portacabin. Now to a brief career history. It’s not been an obvious career path but has involved me pursuing the next thing I felt drawn to create, while drawing on the skills I had developed up to that point.

Well, that was a strange year! I suspect like me, you have made a few changes over the last year.

One of my Career Break Quests was for better balance.  It’s a sort of Holy Grail in a world when most of us seem to experience the opposite – the constant juggling, the endless demands on our time and energy. And I know I’m not alone: how to improve work-life balance is a consistent question at Thresholds networking events.

Diversity & inclusion - a personal view During my 27 year Civil Service career, I’ve had many adventures and met some considerate, and supportive colleagues who I now regard as extended family. If I reflect on the way the Civil Service has evolved, especially as part of the BAME community, I’ve seen a difference between the inequalities I faced in my early career, where I ha

Mentoring and Me A great mentor encourages a person to progress, giving valuable advice and encouragement. But it isn’t a one-way street. Many mentors find building the bond just as rewarding and gain fresh inspiration. Below, Bernie Thompson and Melissa Crawshay-Williams share their journey.

I was delighted to see so many of you at the networking event on 13 January when I talked about my own goal-setting experiences, and your questions piqued my interest in how I’m staying motivated. 

My career break is proving to be an exercise in orienteering. I have some visible landmarks to guide me, techniques to navigate difficult terrain, and am gradually discovering new paths albeit obscured in mist and undergrowth…

It might feel like an odd time to be taking a career break aka unpaid special leave. The world is unpredictable, economically uncertain. Yet I have been thinking about taking some time out for months, while wrestling with the belief that I’m not the sort of person who does things like this. I’ve become increasingly drawn to coaching and mentoring, finding satisfaction in giving my full attention to one person and supporting them to the best of my ability.

To start with, a confession – I’m a natural Networking Avoider. I’m a friendly and sociable person but also somewhat introvert and get a bit overwhelmed with too much small talk and self-promotion – because that’s the best way to network, right?

Good things happen when you start saying no My cohort recently did the second module of Crossing Thresholds – ‘getting the balance right for you’.