Many organizations invest in learning and development for people in the early to mid-career stages of their career. Both are an important area of investment for an organization to create a necessary and valuable leadership pipeline. It’s the later-career and pre-retirement transitions that are often valuable missed opportunities by organizations.
Later-career development and support for successful retirement transitions is an underserved and overlooked opportunity for organizations to meet the evolving needs of its valued leaders. We guide leaders and support their later-career development and help create seamless transitions into retirement.
How We Help
Learning and Development in Later-Career
We find that many organizations struggle with the question of how best to develop their people beyond mid-career. We also find that many of their most valued leaders have spent their career in demanding roles and would benefit from the opportunity to recharge their batteries and recalibrate for the future. Without the opportunity to do so we see organizations lose their most valued contributors at a time when retention in key roles is critical.
What we know to be true, is that when this transition into later-career is recognized and supported – through custom professional and career development programs designed to meet the needs of the individual and the organization – then opportunity abounds. What this opportunity looks like for organizations is the retention of your most knowledgeable, experienced, and valued people who are contributing optimally in new ways that meet the ever-evolving needs of your organization.
From Later-Career to Post-Career Outside the Organization
At some point, most of us also begin to think about when and how we want to retire. We find that many people are ill-equipped to thoughtfully think this through and the result is that they delay retirement. They may be unable to envision a post-career life outside their organization and this keeps them stuck where they are.
The reality is that retiring from a career that has spanned thirty to forty years or more is a major life transition. It deserves thoughtful consideration that extends well beyond financial planning. Individuals within three years of retiring from their career will benefit most from transition programs that help them begin to envision and prepare for a post-career life outside their organization.
Our Programs
Group Transition Programs
At Perceptive Leaders, we have developed unique group programs to help organizations effectively harness the later-career contributions of their valued leaders while supporting them in beginning to prepare for a post-career life outside the organization.
Our group programs are grounded in over two decades of research in the combined fields of adult learning, adult development, professional development, and learning & development and borne out of working with hundreds of people at this stage in their career – both in the workplace and in the Focus Forward Program at the University of Denver and our Online Perceptive Transitions Program.
Individual Transition Programs
We offer similar programs for senior leaders in a one-on-one transition coaching capacity. These programs are customized to meet the individual needs of a leader. We have supported CEO and Founder transitions, in some cases, for both the exiting leader and new leader to support a smooth transition for the organization.
We have supported senior leader transitions from CEO and Founders to C-Level executives and other valued leaders within the organization. We have also worked with an existing leader and incoming leader to support a smooth transition for both leaders, their teams, and the organization.
It was the right time for me to have the opportunity to think through tough transition issues for myself and go through the coaching process. The program was well organized and gave each participant the opportunity and time to reflect and participate at their own speed. Lori proved to be an excellent coach, facilitator, and teacher. As a coach, she allowed me to come to my own conclusions. She is very insightful and intuitive about where someone is at any time in their self-disclosure or emotional state and knows when and how to move the person in the right direction.
Joyce Cashman, Executive Vice President & COO, University of Colorado Hospital
Our firm embarked on a journey with Lori Zahn from Perceptive Leaders to envision how we can honor and support our long time employees as they near their next chapter-later career and retirement… I was fortunate to be a part of the leadership team that developed the program with Lori AND a participant in the beta group. Lori’s individual coaching throughout the program supported the concepts and connected with me on a very personal level which helped me to truly envision and define my future… We are very proud of this program and would be honored to share our experiences in more detail.
Learning and Development Executive, Large Commercial Services Company
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