As a public sector leader, you are used to working on wicked problems that don’t have easy answers.
Think back to the last time you led through a complex piece of work in uncertain conditions.
You didn’t have the perfect brief. You and your team just got on with it.
You gathered information. You tested assumptions. And you adjusted as you went.
And yet, when it comes to their own career, many public sector leaders do the opposite.
They wait for clarity before acting. For certainty before experimenting. For the lightning-bolt that makes everything obvious.
Are you waiting for that moment too?
In this episode of the Space To Shift Your Career podcast, I want to talk about why that moment rarely comes – and what to do instead.
Public Sector Leader, Are You Waiting For The Big New Career Idea?
Many of the leaders I speak with describe work in a similar way: They’re not unhappy. But they’re not thriving either.
From the outside, everything looks good. They’ve build strong careers. They’ve done what was expected. And yet… work no longer energises them. They feel bored. Under-stretched. Like they’re going through the motions.
Some try to fix that feeling with external rewards: A big holiday to an exotic place. Dinners at fancy restaurants. But when they come back, the feeling is still there.
Because the issue isn’t rest or novelty. It’s meaning.
And here’s where many leaders get stuck: They have NO IDEA what else they could do instead.
Nothing feels exciting enough to justify change. So they stay. Or they move sideways within the system. But nothing really changes.
And they keep waiting for the big idea to arrive.
But… insight rarely comes from waiting. Or from thinking alone. It comes from doing.
Explorers didn’t discover new worlds by sitting at home thinking harder. They prepared – and then they went.
Children don’t wait until they’re sure they can walk. They wobble. They fall. They try again.
That curiosity, the willingness to try without knowing the outcome, is missing for many public sector leaders.
So instead of waiting for the big idea to arrive, I invite you to experiment.
Think about this through a lens you already know: the policy cycle.
You don’t design a perfect policy in one go. You draft. You Consult. You test. You learn. You refine. You can apply that exact same approach to your career.
Design thinkers call it: Build. Measure. Learn.
That’s what I do with my clients in my 5-months Find Your Career Space programme. We work together through these phases to find career options that align with who you are now and how you want to evolve in future.
Today I want to share with you how this method works.
Use THIS Method to Explore New Exciting Career Options
Here’s how to start.
First, look for the signals, not answers.
What are you drawn to?
What do you read about in your own time?
What could you talk about for hours?
Think back to moments of JOY. Not achievement. But moments you felt alive.
That’s data.
Next, turn ideas into small experiments.
Not big leaps. But small tests.
I get my clients to do this from the get go. It helps them get out of their head and into action. And they tell me they love this process. It doesn’t feel heavy – but fun.
Here’s how it work.
A conversation with someone doing work you admire.
A short course.
A project inside your current role.
Shadowing someone for a few hours.
If your nervous system gets loud, remind yourself: “I’m not committing. I’m just having a play here.”
Imagine you’re an explorer, detective or scientist – whatever works for you – on a mission to discover what lights your fire.
And if you try something and don’t like it? Great! That’s not failure. That’s useful information.
Then ask yourself:
- Did this energise me?
- Could I become good at it?
- Could it be sustainable for my life?
That’s the Build → Measure → Learn loop.
Over time, patterns emerge.
That’s how most meaningful career shifts actually happen. Not through one big insight, but through a series of intentional experiments.
So don’t wait for the big idea. Get out of your head and into action.
Action creates momentum. Action gives you clarity. Action shows you what truly makes your heart sing.
Go wide first. Get curious about yourself. There’s time to narrow things down later.
Until next time: Make space, rediscover YOU, and then take action.