Interview: Finding and Using Your Career Sweet Spot

Below is an edited and condensed version of an interview, Finding Your Green Career “Sweet Spot”, that first appeared on the Eco Canada website. Eco Canada interviewed leadership and career coach Melissa Creede about the “Sweet Spot”.

Eco Canada: You recently facilitated a workshop for environmental professionals called Career, Leadership, Lifestyle: Finding Your Sweet Spot. What is the “Sweet Spot”, and how do you know you’ve found it?

Melissa Creede: I define the Sweet Spot as the intersection between your strengths, interests, aspirations, purpose and values. It’s the overlap between your career goals, your lifestyle desires, and the areas in which you want to lead or make a difference in the world.

The Sweet Spot originates from your strengths, so it makes everything effortless and straightforward. You feel energized and extremely fulfilled. You are much more successful, effective, influential, and confident because you spend most of your time in the areas that you love and that you’re good at. You even end up having more time available, because you’re not being pulled in several different directions.

That sounds great. Can you be a bit more specific? For instance, what is your Sweet Spot?

My Sweet Spot brings together several elements. I’m most excited when I’m directly engaging with the people side of the environment industry: one-on-one coaching, focus groups, training, stakeholder engagement, and facilitation.

My Sweet Spot uses my strengths: I am able to visualize a bigger vision of what’s possible in a scenario and I have the persistence to lead people to that. I used to do this in the context of projects; now I do that with people and organizations. I see, before they do, the best and grandest vision of what’s possible for them – something grander maybe than they have dared to see. I also have a natural tendency to balance big picture vision with tangible actions– I continually shift between the future and present, the “what” and the “how”, what’s possible and next steps.

In my Sweet Spot, my leadership goals and my career goals are almost superimposed, and my Sweet Spot also honours my personal and lifestyle priorities.

Best of all, I now spend about 90% of my time in my Sweet Spot (versus 40-50% a few years ago).

The great news is, spending most of your time in your Sweet Spot is possible for everyone. You can make a few necessary and effective shifts, and don’t even have to leave your existing job!

Would you like to spend more time in your Sweet Spot? Contact Melissa Creede at mcreede@sapis.ca for a 20-minute consultation, and learn how coaching can help you.

Melissa Creede, P.Eng, CPCC, is an accomplished and results-focused coach who enables individuals and organizations to activate their full potential as leaders. Leveraging her two decades of corporate and consulting experience, she founded Sapis Insight to focus on leadership coaching, career coaching, and facilitation. Melissa has a clear and direct style, and she combines a sense of playfulness with a determination to bring forth your truth, purpose, and motivation. She unwaveringly commits to your best vision of what’s possible, and helps you take practical actions to achieve it.

In 2004, Eco Canada named Melissa to Eco-Canada’s Honour Roll as one of ten recognized leaders in the environmental industry.