53: When Values Misalignment Becomes Unbearable for Public Sector Leaders

Send us Fan MailGet new episodes straight into your inbox here. Did you know there’s a version of “golden handcuffs” in the public sector?We usually link that phrase with high-paying private sector industries because of their big salaries and bonus packages that make leaving hard to imagine.The public sector has its own version of that. The salary may not match the private sector - but at least it’s stable. When public sector leaders come to me thinking about a move, the first thing they say is that they are scared of losing the financial security they have now. And I get it. That security has real value. Especially in a competitive labour market. Yet many of the same people tell me they can’t imagine staying where they are for much longer. They’re longing for:- more autonomy, flexibility and creativity- less bureaucracy, process and politics - more alignment with what they care about, and who they’ve become.That tension can keep them stuck for many years.In this week's episode of the Space To Shift Your Career podcast, I look at what sits behind it. LISTEN in to learn about the top 3 fears that show up once the money question is on the table. ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailSign up to the podcast's newsletter "Email Me New Epsiodes"I spoke to a public sector leader recently, who had spent 20 years in government, leading high-stakes initiatives. When I asked her what she wanted next, she said:“I haven’t really made time to think about this. I haven’t let myself go there yet. It feels a bit dangerous, frivolous even.” And I get it. You’ve spent years solving BIG problems for society, justifying budget lines, and keeping your feet on the ground. You’ve been trained to look at data. To prioritise evidence.Dreaming? That feels like a luxury you don’t have time for. And, if you’re honest, a bit pointless.But here’s the thing: Without a vision, without some image of what might be possible, how do you keep going at all? Let’s talk about why smart, experienced and driven public sector leaders struggle to imagine what’s next for them – and how that might be holding them back more than they think. So if the word ‘dream’ makes you uncomfortable… stay with me!I’ll share 6 questions that help you dare to dream again. ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/56Feeling stuck in your career can feel like standing in a fog. You can’t see very far ahead. You don’t have a clear path. Your instinct is to stand still and wait. Until ...... the fog lifts by itself and things become clearer,... you feel more certain, ... you know exactly where you’re going.But what if the fog doesn’t lift by itself? What if it only lifts when you start walking?Let’s talk about that. LISTEN in for 3 tips to navigate the overwhelm of changing your public sector career. ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/55Have you ever noticed how you can get used to almost anything?A nagging pain in your back. Poor sleep. A job that pays well and appears more stable than others – but leaves you feeling empty.We adapt. We adjust. We convince ourselves it’s fine. "Don’t be picky, that’s just how it is."But here’s the thing about adaptation: it’s silent. Almost invisible. You don’t feel like you’re paying a price because you’ve stopped noticing the price exists.In this episode, I talk about four hidden costs of silent adaptation. Costs you might not be calculating when sitting on the fence about investing in yourself. Whether that’s a course, coaching programme or personal trainer - or anything that helps you build the career and life you want.***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at https://spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/54Have you ever been on a road trip to a place you’d never been to before? I suspect you probably didn’t just throw a bag in the car and go.You probably checked the route and worked out what you needed to take. You might have thought about who to take with you. You possibly even built in a few stops along the way that weren’t strictly necessary, but made the trip worth taking.A career change deserves the same kind of attention. Because drifting along without a plan or leaping blindly tends to cost you more than you might think. That doesn’t mean you need to have every detail figured out from the get go. But it helps to be strategic and intentional before you begin. In this episode, I’ll share the 6 elements of a smart career change strategy. Think of it as your route plan. ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at SpaceToShiftYourCareer.com/53Your values work like a compass. You might have heard this before. But what does it mean? Let me explain. You trust the compass to find the way you want to go because the needle is pointing True North. But when something throws it off, an interference like a bit of metal nearby, the needle starts to drift. If you ignore the drift and keep walking, you end up further and further from where you actually meant to go.Just like a compass that’s working well, you usually don’t think about your values. It happens subconsciously. When everything is in alignment, you don’t notice it. But...When the place where you work stops pointing in the same direction,  When what’s rewarded, prioritised, and lived out every day around you stops matching what matters to you, That DRIFT becomes impossible to ignore.In this episode, I tell you about a client who felt that drift, and what she did about it. LISTEN in and find out which 3 things helped move the needle for her. ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the transcript at https://spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/52I recorded this episode exactly one year after this podcast went live. Yes, it’s the one year anniversary of the Space To Shift Your Career podcast.This puts me in a reflective mood. I think back to where I was one year ago. I was at a crossroads:  Moving from one side of the world to the other. I was about to go through another transition period in my life. It took me about one year to fully arrive back home. Much longer than on previous occasions! My family and I had just come home to New Zealand from an overseas posting to Moscow. From one reality – and its many contradictions – to another, very different reality. I had been working on the podcast for several months and was excited to finally share it. I was disappointed when my mentor recommended to hold off until after our move. But... she was right. I had to be fully present when I launched – not be distracted by packing and unpacking boxes – and, in a way, my life.I had used the last couple of months in Moscow to produce 10 or so episodes. That gave me breathing space for the first few months back home. To settle in. To reconnect with people. To set up a new routine for my family – and my business.This one year anniversary makes me reflect on what can happen in a year.I share three versions of you. Which one feels closest to where you want to be a year from now? ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/51Career change is a marathon, not a sprint. And a marathon isn’t won in the first mile.But when you’re deep into exploring your next career move – allowing yourself to dream up your ideal scenario, exploring, testing and verifying ideas – it can start to feel like a LONG journey.Often, the path isn’t straight. It zigzags. Sometimes you take a step sideways before you can take one forward. And when nothing seems to be moving, it’s tempting to just… stop. Throw in the towel. Stay where you are. Because at least it’s familiar.And I get it. I see it in almost every conversation I have with experienced public sector leaders who are ready for something new. So let's talk about how to look after yourself while you’re in the thick of it. ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at https://spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/50“I don’t really know how to describe myself anymore”, a public sector leader said this to me recently.On paper, they were incredibly accomplished. Years of leadership experience. Strategy. Stakeholder management. The kind of person others look at and think: “They’ve built such a successful career.”But psychologically? They felt lost. Because the career story they had told themselves for many years no longer fitted. And they hadn’t built a new one yet. I think this is one of the least talked about parts of career change. People think career transition is mainly practical: Updating your LinkedIn profile and CV. Networking. Looking at options. But at some point, career change becomes something much deeper: Identity work. Who am I now? What still fits? What no longer does? How do I make sense of my experience in a way that supports where I want to go next?In this episode, I talk about how to begin rewriting your career story in a way that is grounded, honest, and actually useful.I’ll share 2 of the 7 questions I use with clients inside my 5-month Find Your Career Space programme. These questions are powerful because they help you move beyond job titles and reconnect with the deeper patterns underneath your career.***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call. 

Send us Fan MailFind the full transcript at https://spacetoshiftyourcareer.com/49Okay, you’ve built your career transition support team. Maybe you’ve got your Motivator and your Mooring for emotional support. Maybe you’ve found a Mentor or hired a Coach to be your Trusted Expert.You’re excited. You have people in your corner.And then… a month or two in, you realise something is not quite working.You’re not sure how often to check in with people. Maybe you’re worried you’re asking too much. You’re not really getting the help you need. Because you haven’t been clear about what THAT is.Building a support team is one thing. Actually using it well is another.Let's talk about how to make sure your support team:- actually serves you, and - stays sustainable for you, and for them.---This is the end of the Career Transition Support Team Series. Over the last 6 episodes, you've learned:Why you need a support team (episode 44) How to overcome the vulnerability that stops you (episode 45) What six roles you might recruit for (episode 46) Which roles matter most for you right now (episode 47) Where to find the right people (episode 48) How to make your support team work (episode 49) Which one did you find most useful? I love hearing from my listeners, so feel free to reach out and let me know: [email protected] ***Yvonne Davidis helps public sector leaders develop exciting career options that align with who they are now and how they want to evolve in future. With 20+ years of moving countries, working for the UK and Denmark across three continents, plus professional coaching certifications, Yvonne is a unique specialist for leaders in the public sector considering their next chapter.Book a 90-minute Jumpstart Session to clarify your deal-breakers and must-haves for a more satisfying work experience.  For step-by-step support on your career change journey apply here for Yvonne's 5-month Find Your Career Space programme, and she'll be in touch to invite you to a free discovery call.