According to a recent Harvard Business Review, researchers surveyed 950 business school alums. They unveiled five common trends among people who had, or were in the midst of, changing careers. The trends were: “not knowing what to do next, limiting mindsets, inadequate networks, financial constraints, and lacking the right skills.” (“How to Successfully Change Careers With No Experience,” Forbes, 3/30/24).
Further in the article, the author emphasized the word, “pivot,” as not “just jargon; it’s an art form.” I liked that emphasis, and as I reflected back over my own career pivots, along with coaching others through theirs, I think it bears some further explanation as to why pivot is such an important word to use to describe a career change.
For most of us, when we hear pivot, our minds immediately flash to basketball. I remember when I started to play basketball in 3rd grade, I didn’t understand the penalty of traveling. I thought you just dribbled the ball until it became inconvenient, and then you could just pick it up and run over to a more advantageous spot. NOPE! The whistle would blow, and I quickly learned about the word, “turnover!”
As I continued to play basketball, I was taught how to pivot: to keep one foot firmly planted on the ground where it had landed, while I could move my other foot and body to look for other open players to pass the ball to, and also to use my body to shield the ball from the person defending me. Soon after that, I was taught the famous “jump stop,” so you could land where you stopped with both feet planted and keep the flexibility of pivoting with either foot, depending on what the defense was doing and what passing and defensive lanes they were covering.
How to Pivot in Your Career
Ok, kinda interesting about basketball, but what’s the application to changing careers? Well, to properly pivot in basketball, I’d suggest there are five fundamentals we can then apply to changing careers:
- Don’t Move too Fast – – If you’re dribbling too fast, you can lose your balance when coming to a complete stop for the pivot. Similarly, if you try to transition too fast to a new career, you may be overlooking key details that could prove to be disastrous in a new field or role.
- Think “Jump Stop” – – As I proved to myself and others over and over again in my illustrious basketball career, if you’re not thinking consciously of making a jump stop, you usually won’t be able to execute and turnovers will occur. In your career change, thinking through the pros and cons and the ripple effects of making a change is practical and necessary. For example, if you think that just following your passions will work out because you’ll have tons of energy to learn new skills…well, let’s step back from that thinking a bit. 🙂
- You Better Practice! – – Jump stops were not natural for me or most of my teammates. We literally had drills almost every practice to dribble as fast as we could and come to a complete jump stop. We all had to slow down a bit from our normal full-throttle pace. We also practiced pivoting different ways once we stopped. I’ll attach this exercise to networking, a very useful and critical aspect of a career transition. The more people you talk to about elements of the new field and role, the more possibilities you’ll see.
- Shield the Ball – – As you try to advance the ball down court, the defenders are trying to prevent you from scoring. Whenever you stop, good defenders will swarm all over you trying to steal the ball. Consistently pivoting, while shielding the ball, is the key to being able to make a successful pass to your teammate. While in a career change you aren’t necessarily having to defend yourself from an opponent, there are many things which can derail the change, and if you’re not keeping alert constantly for them, you’ll end up not accomplishing the shift you’re attempting.
- Keep Broad Vision – – While dribbling and pivoting, keep your field of vision across the whole court to help you see possibilities and avoid your pass being intercepted. You’ve got to keep your head up and be comfortable enough with your dribbling/pivoting mechanics, so you can see the floor and what your teammates and the defense is doing. As you progress through changing your occupation, avoid becoming too fixated on one specific thing. In basketball, we called that tunnel vision. If variations to the specific role you’re targeting come up, don’t look past them to the original role. Be open to taking what’s open to bring you that much closer to scoring the goal you’re pursuing.
Stay Grounded in Your Purpose and Mission
Finally, what Scripture could possibly apply to basketball and a career change? None that I could find, but here’s a passage demonstrating Jesus’ pivoting from what he was originally doing (teaching in the synagogue), to healing a woman, to defending his actions to the Pharisees.
Luke 13:10-16 says, “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
Jesus pivoted in his actions, but He stayed grounded in His purpose and mission. He shifted His ministry from teaching many, to healing one, and then defending His ministry all within minutes.
If you’re feeling the promptings to change, shift, or transition from one position to another, I’d highly encourage you to learn to pivot, practice the fundamentals needed for that change, and stay grounded in your purpose and mission.
Blessings!
Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.
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