I am sure you have been asked this question many times – particularly when you were a child. Do you remember how you answered this? And how often did your answers change throughout your life? Career transition may be something you are familiar with or perhaps it has happened to someone you know. Each year, more than 375,000 Australians undergo a career transition due to either restructure or retrenchment (ABS, 2013).

In the TEDtalk, “Why some of us don’t have a true calling,” Emilie Wapnick explains that a multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits. Emilie extracts three notable strengths or “super-powers” from being a multi-potentialite. These include:

1. Idea synthesis: combining multiple fields and creating something new at the intersection.
2. Rapid learning: when interested in something, multi-potentialites go hard.
3. Adaptability: ability to morph into whatever you need to be in a given situation.

In today’s ever-changing economic world, these ‘super-powers’ are highly desired. It allows you to be flexible and pivot to fulfil the needs of dynamic and developing markets. In essence, a multi-potentialite is adopting a boundaryless career mindset with the belief that his or her psychological traits, psychological tools and physical circumstances are not held by one career prospect. This is utterly important, as many individuals have an emotive reaction to job-loss and rush into finding a replacement job with hope to alleviate the associated uncertainty.

Yet, those with a boundaryless mindset make time to reflect and focus on developing personal career insights which can significantly improve the outcomes of a career transition. Using a proactive approach, individuals take greater control over the situation and empowers them as drivers – rather than passengers – of their own career.

To give your staff the support they deserve during periods of transition, contact a PeopleScape consultant today.