WLP355 Career Pivots, Team Connections and Work Life Identity
In today’s episode, Pilar interviews Amale Ghalbouni, a former executive strategy director turned coach. Amale shares her experiences navigating career pivots, rediscovering purpose, and helping individuals and teams foster deep human connections. They talk about the changing nature of work, and the importance of preventing burnout.
Amale grew up in war-torn Beirut, a stark contrast to her current home in London. She never knew she wanted to become a coach (who does!) and instead had dreams of being an astronaut or actress. She eventually gave way to studying economics and finance, with the goal of investment banking. However, arriving in the UK amidst the 2008 financial crisis, Amale pivoted to strategy consulting, working with major companies for six years before transitioning into innovation consulting.
Over time, Amale realised her true passion lay in helping organisations change, particularly in terms of human aspects like mindsets, ways of working, and team development. This realization felt like a natural progression for Amale, who had always valued independence and personal growth.
Reflecting on her first job at 16, promoting a Belgian chocolate shop in Beirut despite her introversion, Amale recounted how the shop owner acknowledged her struggles and growth over the month-long project. (Did this seeded Amale's interest in helping others develop, by having someone recognise her challenges, provide support, and serve as a role model, Pilar wanders….)
During the conversation, Amale drew some inspiration from her chocolate-selling story:
”It's easy as leaders to just tell our teams that they need to work harder or to deliver more or to hit a certain target, but they're acknowledging that they might not be equipped to do that, or that they might be struggling with even understanding the goal itself, like spending time making sure that that is something that they want to achieve, making sure they understand what they need to do to achieve that, and we need to make sure as leaders that we know what they need in terms of support and we're able to support them the way they expect us to.”
Amale Ghalbouni
10.30 MINS
Amale’s approach to coaching varies depending on the client's needs and expectations. While she may personally wish for everyone to make drastic changes and pursue their passions, she recognizes that some clients simply need a safe space to externalize their struggles and seek support for smaller, more specific goals. As a coach, Amale adapts to each client's unique situation, setting aside her own opinions and allowing the client to dictate the pace and direction of their growth.
Amale’s clients tend to be overachievers who constantly chase the next big thing without questioning their motivations. This "shiny object syndrome" (or SOS syndrome, as she calls it) can lead to a point where they begin to question whether their pursuits align with their true desires, which is where her work comes in. Catalysts for this introspection can include burnout, significant personal life changes, or career setbacks that shake their sense of self-worth.
21st Century Mindset
16.20 MINS
The role of work in personal identity is changing.
Amale is grateful for the modern shift that allows individuals to question their career paths and explore new avenues, in contrast to previous generations who often remained in the same job for a lifetime. She’s also noticed cultural differences in the relationship between work and personal life - in some countries, work is a smaller part of one's identity compared to social and family life. The importance placed on work as part of one's identity is something that more people are beginning to reassess, and she expects this trend to continue.
20.30 MINS
When meeting new people, especially in the UK and US, the first thing they often share is their job title, rather than personal details like their background, hobbies, or what they enjoy doing outside of work. People invest so much effort into their careers and achieving professional milestones, that they can lose track of who they are outside of their job. Amale has found that her clients find the question "Who are you?" to be one of the most challenging to answer.
When asked how she would answer the question "Who are you?" in different settings, in a professional context, Amale would introduce herself as an ex-executive strategy director turned coach who helps teams work better together. However, in a personal setting, she often replies: “I’m Amale, what do you want to know?”
(Pilar loves this, and on a broader note, she hopes that people continue to have the choice to either align their identity closely with their work or detach themselves from it.)
Amale’s Team Coaching Work
26.30 MINS
One of the biggest challenges in 21st-century work is the lack of connection among team members. To address this, The Brick Coach focuses on helping teams connect on a deeply human level by sharing personal stories and experiences.
In addition to facilitating personal connections, The Brick Coach also helps teams collaborate more effectively by improving communication, creative problem-solving, and clarity of purpose. This kind of work is especially. valuable during times of uncertainty, such as mergers, acquisitions, or redundancies.
It’s useful to give teams the space to get to know each other and vocalise their needs, particularly through the use of metaphors and creative expression, which can provide a greater sense of permission to be vulnerable. We also need to acknowledge that changes in our personal lives impact us at work, affecting our performance and overall presence in the workplace.
Recognising the Signs of Burnout
34.00 MINS
Amale has only been away once in the last six months due to her commitment to building her business and helping as many clients as possible. However, having experienced burnout three times, she now recognises when she needs to take a break.
The first time she experienced burnout, Amale wasn't aware of it and pushed through because of her dedication to her job. The third time, she decided to leave her day job. She has become hyper-aware of her signs of burnout, which start with mental exhaustion, overthinking, and worrying, before progressing to physical exhaustion, indicated by labored breathing and sighing.
To avoid becoming an executive who loses sight of their purpose, Amale now approaches her business with quarterly priorities rather than solely focusing on long-term vision and strategy. She illustrates this with Lego (which they use during the Brick Coach’s sessions), through her own model where a red brick at the base represents her previous state of constantly firefighting and being on the verge of burnout.
Amale’s final bit of advice:
Pick one big goal that you’ve been sitting with for a while and think of one experiment or challenge to start taking action, as the first action will be more impactful than planning for six months.
Find out more about Amale on her website.
Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Check out The Brick Coach website
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