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Crossing many Thresholds My journey from a career civil servant to a freelance facilitator and mindfulness teacher, by Nicola Lowit  

Transforming the way we work One of the things that makes Thresholds’ courses so powerful is the intimate, conducive atmosphere we create when we are all in a room together.

Crossing Thresholds module 1  Dare to dream I recently completed the first module of Crossing Thresholds (CT) with a cohort of fellow civil servants. I heard about the course through a mentor who was herself a graduate. That was back in 2016 and since then I’ve missed out on a place twice, much to my frustration. Starting the course four years later I realise the timing is actually perfect.

Close your eyes and picture yourself “at work”, five years from now. What do you see? What kind of environment do you imagine yourself in? Are you with colleagues or alone? Are you addressing someone? If so, who is your audience? How do you feel in this moment?

To thine own self be true” is how I began my presentation at the Crossing Thresholds Programme. This famous Shakespeare quote taken from the play Hamlet, encapsulated the theme of my peer group assignment on Authentic Personal Impact; which explored the concept of authenticity and how you can apply this in the workplace or your personal life.

Thoughts on Quiet Leadership I’ve always been a quiet kind of person; I’m softly spoken and generally fairly reserved, and I tend to prefer thinking something through by myself to brainstorming in a group.

So why do women choose Crossing Thresholds? Every time I meet a new group I feel a sense of excitement and curiosity.  Each person who comes on Crossing Thresholds comes from such a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences and expectations; each one unique. What unites everyone, is that they are about to embark on the Crossing Thresholds journey, learning from and supporting each other.

My time on Crossing Thresholds In 2016, while looking for leadership learning on the Civil Service Learning site, I stumbled across Crossing Thresholds, a year-long programme for women who want to develop their career. Unlike other development programmes, Crossing Thresholds brings people together from across the civil service and I have been learning alongside women from OfQual, the Department for Work & Pensions and the Department for Education as well as from HMRC.  

What is mindfulness and how can it help us? Mindfulness means deliberately attending to and becoming more aware of our experience: our thoughts, feelings and body sensations. This allows us to clearly perceive thoughts, physical sensations, emotions and events at the moment they occur without reacting in an automatic or habitual way. Experiences don’t overwhelm us and we become steady through life’s ups and downs.

Preparing for interviews I often hear people on the Thresholds Programme say ‘I haven’t had an interview for years’. If you are going for your dream job you will want to feel confident, informed and practiced. The best way to do this is to prepare well! Find out as much as you can about the job you are applying for Hopefully you know enough about the role to have decided this job is right for you. If you are passionate about the role this will shine through at the interview, so make sure it is a good fit for you before going any further.

Four Types of Job Shadowing... and How to Choose Which is Right for You Job Shadowing is often associated with people who are new to the world of work and not sure where to begin their career path. In this situation, job shadowing can provide some very helpful insights, both into the role itself as well as the potential work environment.

Crossing Thresholds a year on…….What was I going to learn and what could I expect from an alumni event? To be honest before the event and a year after my cohort ended I felt frustrated, unsettled and I needed to reinvigorate my career.