Helen Tupper, Co-Founder of award-winning career development company Amazing If, on what makes a good squiggly career story and when you should tell yours
When we lead with stories rather than stats, our messages are shown to be 22 times more sticky. I see this reflected so much in my own experience. When I worked in innovation for Capital One, I once went shopping with a customer to talk about how they used their credit card. It transpired that on that particular day, her card was frozen in orange juice in her freezer (it meant she had to wait 24 hours for it to defrost and couldn’t see through to the numbers while she waited!).
This conversation sparked an idea for a ‘credit freeze’ product that was considerably less messy. And, when I worked at E.On, a customer who described having a bath in water heated by solar panels as being like ‘bathing in sunshine’, inspired a new way of thinking about the language we used alongside complex technology. These stories helped me to sell concepts internally and secure the funds turn ideas into reality.
But, storytelling skills aren’t only important for the success of the brands and businesses we work for, they are increasingly important in helping people to understand our careers. And transferring the storytelling talents you develop in your day job to how you talk about your career development can significantly increase your opportunities for growth.
The career ladder, a concept that has stuck around for over 100 years, had the benefit of making career development simple. In a predictable and linear world, providing you were happy to stick to the path you started out on and follow in other people’s footsteps, you could quickly explain your career journey through a series of predictable and logical steps. In interviews, career ladders gave people a short-cut to understanding ‘you’ and what you ‘do’. We didn’t need stories to bring our journey to life. Our steps did the talking for us.
However, the ladders that moved so many forward people are increasingly starting to hold people back. When organisations are faced with constant change, they need adaptable employees who have the ability to upskill and reskill, to learn and unlearn. Employers want to hear from people who have the curiosity and resilience to deal with the ambiguity and uncertainty that has become our working norm. And that is where our squiggly career stories come into play. Squiggly career stories are unique and compelling insights into your career journey so far. Rather than focusing on the shiny moments and hiding the mistakes, failures and moves that went wrong, we use these insights to create inform what we stand for and what makes us stand out.
Staircases led to career conformity, squiggly careers recognise our individuality and in telling our stories, we bring that to life for people.
Why squiggly careers are better for everyone | Helen Tupper & Sarah Ellis | TEDxLondonWomen
1. Squiggly career stories focus on the talents you have developed rather than the titles you have held. These talent-based stories help people to see how you can contribute to the business with skills and experiences they might otherwise have been unaware of.
Trying answering this question: When in your career have your strengths most stood out?
2. Stories about when you have failed and what you learnt from the experience connect with people on an emotional level. Sharing failures shows vulnerability and creates empathy which strengthens relationships.
Trying answering this question: What is the failure that you learnt the most from?
3. When you share stories which bring to life the things that are most meaningful and motivating to you, people get an insight into your values. The more we live our values in our day-to day-work, the more fulfilled and happy we are in. By sharing values-based stories, people can support you to live them more.
Trying answering this question: What is most important to you about who you work with, where you work and what you work on?
Career stories aren’t just for job interviews! The more we share our journeys we other people, the more we open-up conversations about careers and the reality that our success is as individual as we are. The ladders that limit our learning have been replaced by squiggles that enable us to be at our best. Answering the questions above individually or collectively in team meetings is a great way of cultivating career curiosity, building connection and creating new opportunities for growth. I think this quote from Oprah Winfrey sums it up well “Everybody has a story. And there’s something to be learned from every experience”.
I hope this helps you to see the value in your story and builds your confidence to share it with others.
Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper: The best career path isn't always a straight line
