SHIFTWORK: A CHAOS THEORY OF CAREERS AGENDA FOR CHANGE IN CAREER COUNSELLING

SHIFTWORK: A CHAOS
THEORY OF CAREERS
AGENDA FOR CHANGE IN
CAREER COUNSELLING
JIM E. H. BRIGHT and ROBERT. G. L. PRYOR
Australian Catholic Univer sity
This paper presents the implications of the Chaos Theory of Careers for career counsel ing
in the form of Shiftwork. Shiftwork represents an expanded paradigm of career counsel ing
based on complexity, change and uncertainty. Eleven paradigm shifts for careers counsel ing
are outlined to incorporate into contemporary practice pattern making, an emphasis on
planning, openness, flexibility, risk, possibility thinking, mattering and meaning, transforming
information, scalable reasoning, emergence and trust as faith.
Career counselling is the single most effective career opinions and answers (Galassi, Crace, Martin, James,
intervention that produces the greatest gains for
& Wallace, 1992). This presents a challenge because
clients in the shortest time (Oliver & Spokane, 1988;
we live in a world that is not simple, certain and
Whiston, 2000). The superiority of career counselling
predictable, and a world that is populated by people
over more constrained approaches such as workshops,
who are complex, changing and inherently unpre-
classes and computer programs is due in no small
dictable. This world is characterised by Taleb (2007)
part to the flexible, contingent and personal nature
who posed the following questions:
of the counselling process. Despite this, many of the
theories, procedures and tools designed for career
Look into your own existence. Count the significant
development emphasise stability and characterise
events, the technological changes, and the inventions
career development as a problem to be solved, rather
that have taken place in our environment since you were
than career development as an ongoing process.
born and compare them to what was expected before
Approaches that emphasise certainty and hold out
their advent. How many of them came on schedule?
the promise of providing neat answers are attractive to
Look into your own personal life, to your choice of
people confronted by the uncertainties and complex-
profession say, or meeting your mate, your exile from
ities of their lives. It is therefore not surprising to
your country of origin, the betrayals you faced, your
discover that clients seek out certainty in career
sudden enrichment or impoverishment. How often did
counselling and prefer that counsellors give advice,
these things occur according to plan? (p. xix)
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Things and people change, shift happens (Bright,
Shiftwork as a concept derives from chaos theory
2008) but many of our methods, our training and our
(Lorenz, 1993). Chaos theorists have observed that
clients’ expectations tend to privilege certainty over
change can occur in systems either gradually or very
uncertainty. Taleb (2007) argued that all the shifts
quickly. However, the effect of change is to reconfigure
that have really mattered in life have shared three
the system. This is usually called a ‘phase shift’, after
characteristics: (a) they are outliers that fall outside
which the system functions in a way differently from
the realm of regular expectations; (b) they have an
its former operational configuration. The classic
extreme impact; and (c) that ‘human nature makes us
physical example of this is the proverbial sand tipping
concoct explanations for [their] occurrence after the
into a single pile forming a pyramid shape on a flat
fact, making [them] explainable and predictable’ (p.
surface. At some point only one additional grain of
xviii). Taleb called these effects ‘Black Swans’ because
sand is required for the existing pile to bifurcate into
to the inhabitants of the old world the existence of
two poles—a new configuration of the system. The
black swans fell outside their experience.
changes and uncertainties of human experience show
The observation that we live in exponential times
similar analogous reconfigurations through the slow
seems to be increasingly accepted. Uldrich (2008) has
advances of age or the dramatic impact of trauma or job
estimated that 95% of what we know about the human
loss. Such effects can be internal to the person, such as
brain has been discovered in the last 20 years. If we
disease, or external, such as technological change. The
consider our own discipline of career development,
Chaos Theory of Careers (Bright & Pryor, 2005, 2007;
we can see clear evidence of exponential shifts in
Pryor & Bright, 2003, 2007) explicitly incorporates
knowledge. A PsycLit database search on articles
the concept of ‘phase shift’ in its account of careers in
relating to ‘careers’ indicates the first listed in the
terms of complex dynamical systems.
database was published in the 1890s, but that just about
As career counsellors, there are some cornerstones to
half (49%) of the total output have been published in
Shiftwork that we must embrace if we want continue
the last three decades. The results for papers on ‘career
to provide clients with the greatest gains (Whiston,
change’ are even more dramatic (see Figure 1), with
2000). We have identified the first 11 shifts that we
93% of them having been published in the last 30
may need to embrace (if we are not already doing so).
years. While it may not seem surprising now that there
It would be an oversimplification to inter pret these
is such a focus on change, would we
shifts as meaning an abandonment
have predicted this in the 1960s? It
of current practices in favour of
appears that Black Swans are alive
new ones and nor are we suggesting
‘ As career counsellors,
and well in our own discipline.
there are some cornerstones
these shifts represent movement
This dramatic, unprecedented
along a continuum. Both concepts
to Shiftwork that we must
change demands that we reconsider
are variants of pendulum attractor
our methods, models and practices.
embrace if we want continue closed systems thinking (Pryor &
Shiftwork has been suggested as a
to provide clients with the
Bright, 2007). Rather, these shifts
label to describe the essence of our
are characterised as a move from a
greatest gains.’
practice as career counsellors in the
more simplistic approach to a more
21st century (Bright, 2008). Shift-
sophisticated and complex approach
work can be defined as all those activities in which
consonant with the realities of contemporary work and
career counsellors engage to assist their clients to dev-
the gloriously complicated dimensions of being human.
elop the skills of adaptation and resilience required
Shifting perspectives or paradigms of career counsel-
to negotiate and use productively the fluctuating
ling is mandatory if counsellors’ work is to remain
for tunes of their careers. It includes assisting clients
relevant to and effective for the ongoing development
to reinvent themselves continually, to identify oppor-
of the work and life experiences of their clients. It is
tunities, to recover from setbacks, to find meaningful
not that traditional approaches to career development
work that matters to them and to others and to
have failed miserably—they have not— however,
capitalise on chance. Hence Shiftwork covers the
complex dynamical people and economies demand
major developmental tasks in 21st century career
that we as practitioners also shift. Indeed, think of
development.
the proposed approach as pressing the ‘shift’ key on a
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300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1890s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
corrected rating average
0
0
0
1
1
0.5
1.5
1.5
26.5
154.5
244.5
233.3
Figure 1: The rolling average number of journal articles published per decade related to the topic of
career change
Note: Because at the time of writing there are still 18 months remaining in the current decade, the figures for the current
decade have been corrected upwards by 15% (18 months/120 months)
computer keyboard. Doing so dramatically increases
with good reason. As Savickas and Spokane (1999)
the possibilities, and increases our flexibility without
pointed out, ‘the long-term stability of vocational
abandoning the still useful un-shifted keystrokes.
inter ests in group data was established in a compelling
manner in the late 1960s…a finding that has never
shiFt 1: FRom PReDiction
been refuted.’ (p. 7). However they also acknowledged
to PReDiction anD PatteRn
that changes of interests occur for some individuals
making
and that accentuation of interests, changing careers
‘It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the
and contexts all need to be considered more than they
future’ is a saying variously attributed to commentators
have in the past.
as varied as Mark Twain, physicist Niels Bohr and
The limits of prediction in career development
Danish artist Storm P. (Pors, 2007). Career counselling
occur in psychology and economics for pretty much the
is generally future-focused in a way that other forms
same reasons: complexity, change (including personal
of counselling are not.
inconsistency), chance and the misplaced assumption
Savickas (1997) suggested that ‘the career counselor’s
of rationality in decision-making (Ariely, 2008; Pryor
job is to see life prospectively, to extend a life theme
& Bright, 2007). If we can learn to step back and avoid
into the future’ (p. 14.) Whereas in personal counselling
focusing on just a few influences on our situation, we
the goal may be to overcome past and current negative
may be able to discern patterns in both our behaviour
feelings or behaviours, very often in career counselling
and our environment, which could constitute the
clients demand to know ‘what they will become’.
recog nition of persisting problems to be redressed
The most commonly used approach to predicting
and of opportunities and possibilities to be developed
a client’s future is the use of interest inventories, and
and utilised. One of the best ways of learning how to
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see patterns is to start with what we are perhaps most
deployment, and occasionally abandonment of plans.
familiar with, the patterns that have emerged in the
Shiftwork encourages creativity and dexterity in the
life we have personally lived. Not only is the subject
use of plans, and encourages a perspective where plans
matter familiar, but also learning to see our patterns in
are not seen as having met all future challenges, or
all their complexity will present strategies to confront,
as the answer to the problem of career development.
cope with and capitalise on future changes in our lives.
In a personal communication, John Krumboltz, the
There are now many different techniques available
originator of the social learning theory of careers,
to analyse patterns in people’s lives including the
suggested that the career counsellor – client relation-
Career Style Questionnaire (Savickas, 1997), CareerScope
ship should be viewed like that of a dentist to patient.
for high school students (Amundson, Poehnell, &
Emergency services are provided as necessary, but
Pattern, 2005) and Guiding Circles for Indigenous
ongoing checkups, minor modifications and treat-
peoples (McCormick, Amundson, & Poehnell, 2006),
ments, using improved technologies and responses
narratives (Bujold, 2004; Cochran, 1999), archetypal
to changing conditions are also part of a continuing
plots (Pryor & Bright, 2008), circles of influence (Bright
service and relationship. To extend the analogy fur-
& Pryor, 2003), My Systems of Career Influence (Watson
ther, at present career counsellors tend to operate as
& McMahon, 2006) and the Pattern Identification
midwives delivering the plan for immediate action
Exercise (Amundson, 2003).
rather than as dentists offering ongoing assistance
over an extended period, in the dynamical processes of
shiFt 2: FRom Plans to Plans
career development and change.
anD Planning
Shiftwork is an ongoing process. A plan is to planning
shiFt 3: FRom naRRowing Down
what a change is to changing. In the same way that
to Being FocuseD on oPenness
a single change rarely suffices longer than the short
Both career counsellors and their clients typically see
term before more changes are required, similarly plans
the successful outcome of their interaction to be in
rarely stand the test of time without modification.
terms of moving from undecidedness to decidedness.
Yet there is still widespread emphasis on developing
Individuals are often called upon to choose at various
‘a plan’. School systems around the world commonly
points in their education and working lives. Such a
have a process to develop a school-to-work plan for
process is understood as narrowing down options to a
each student, yet relatively little time appears to be
single best choice. The academic and self-help litera ture
devoted to teaching the next generation the skills of
of the last 25 years has relatively uncritically espoused
planning. Furthermore, such systems are often based
the benefits of being focused, setting goals and
on unwarranted assumptions about the power of logi-
objectives (Tubbs, 1986) but there has been less focus
cal processes to supply a winning formula. Why is it
on the limitations of goal setting as career development
that relatively few adults have written long-term career
strategy until recently (Bright & Pryor, 2005; Shapiro,
plans akin to school-to-work plans despite many adults
2006). The reality of human decision-making is that
having had to produce one at school? What does this
it virtually always occurs in circumstances of limited
widespread failure say about the utility and validity
knowledge of outcomes (Butz, 1997). As a result it is
of such approaches? How come there is little or no
rarely possible to know at the time of choice which
evidence of the long-term validity or success of such
option is incontrovertibly going to be the best one.
approaches? If we can learn to step back and avoid
In terms of job search, fostering imaginative strat-
focusing on just a few influences on our situation, we
egies such as creating work opportunities or combining
may be able to discern patterns in both our behaviour
different forms of work to meet a complex range of
and our environment, which could constitute the
needs and desires is a good example of Shiftwork.
recognition of persisting problems to be redressed and
Encouraging clients to consider the advantages of
of opportunities and possibilities to be developed and
undecidedness and the openness to opportunity that
utilised.
can be the reward for such an approach is another
The appropriate response from a Shiftwork pers-
example of Shiftwork, particularly in an environment
pective is not to abandon plans, but to support and
that is in a state of flux and/or when individuals have
counsel clients in the development, redevelopment,
the opportunity to keep their options open.
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shiFt 4: FRom contRol to
to eradicate the possibility of failure. Acting under
contRolleD FlexiBility
conditions of uncertainty as we inevitably are obliged
Control is related to the need for predictability and
to do does not obviate our personal responsibility for
it is also related to anxiety and occupational stress.
action. However a Shiftwork approach to counselling
Perceptions of being in control are one of the best
clients or employees discourages a punitive approach
predictors of stress reactions in employees (e.g. Jones
to failure, and encourages a learning and endeavour
& Bright, 2001; Jones, Bright, Searle, & Cooper, 1999).
approach.
Seeking to control our environment and destiny is
Mistakes are viewed as possible solutions tested and
there fore understandable, but one of the great indi-
learnt from, as a basis for further experimentation.
vidual developmental challenges is to appreciate the
Many of the triumphs of human endeavour only
limitations of personal control.
come after a history of unsuccessfully trying many
Flexibility in Shiftwork terms relates to notions
other possibilities (Moore 2002). While not advocating
such as Luck Readiness (Neault, 2002; Bright & Pryor,
thought less recklessness in career decision-making,
2007) and planned happenstance (Mitchell, Levin &
the Shiftwork approach sees strategic attempts which
Krumboltz, 1998). Developing strategies, optimism,
end up proving unsuccessful but from which insight is
self-efficacy, curiosity, persistence, and risk-taking as
gained, not as wasted effort but as ‘successful failures’.
well as seeing yourself as lucky are effective ways to
encourage personal exploration and flexibility in career
shiFt 6: FRom PRoBaBilities to
development.
PRoBaBle PossiBilities
Flexibility of individuals and workforces is
The traditional approaches to career decision-making
increasingly prized by employees who are confronting
typically seek to identify the probable options as the
the need to re-invent themselves regularly as well as
best ones to consider. Using the Chaos Theory of
operating in complex, inter-connected global economic
Careers as a theoretical framework, Pryor, Amundson
markets that are also inherently unpredictable (Taleb,
and Bright (2008) argued for a broader career
2007).
counselling process that includes both probability and
possibility thinking. The convergent or probabilistic
shiFt 5: FRom Risk as FailuRe
approach seeks to converge on a single choice option
to Risk as enDeaVouR
(or a limited number) through logical and rational
Why are we so reluctant to confront uncertainty? Why
approaches such as weighing evidence, focussing on
does it unsettle us so much? Why does it take traumas
few variables and maximising certainty. The possibility
and other dramatic life events to
or emergent approach (Bright &
shake us out of our complacency or
Pryor, 2007) seeks to generate pat-
even fear? Fear of failure is a well
terns by crafting (Amundson, 2003)
‘ A Shiftwork approach
recognised barrier to action, impli-
to counselling clients or
or constructing (Savickas, 1997) new
cated in a range of self-limiting
options through processes such as
employees discourages a
behaviours such as sporting achieve-
taking risks, learning from failure,
punitive approach to failure,
ment (Sagar, Savally, & Spray, 2007),
pursuing passions, listening to your
parenting (Sideridis & Kafetsios, and encourages a learning and intuitive approach and searching for
2008) and vocational aspirations
endeavour approach.
new and enlightening knowledge.
’
(Tseng & Carter, 1970). The Shift-
The
Shiftwork
perspective
work approach characterises failure
incor por ates both probability and
as a marker of action and endeavour, and recognises
possibility thinking as valuable strategies for action. An
that error is an essential ingredient in exploratory
overly exclusive focus on the probable career options
learning. A willingness to accept failure is a legitimate
risks self-perpetuating self-limiting futures and may
part of an individual’s or an organisation’s way to
underestimate the impact of change on the individual
develop and expand.
and their options. However, focusing excessively on
Peat (2002) addressed this issue thus: ‘many people
possibilities may lead to frustration and hesitation, as
fear chaos because for them it means a lack of control’
well as overwhelming the individual. Both approaches
(p. 134). However, we never have enough control
are required for good Shiftwork.
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shiFt 7: FRom goals, Roles
dumb luck, random, fatalistic or incoherent approaches
anD Routines to meaning,
to career development.
matteRing anD Black swans
Understanding what matters to an individual and
The temptation to reduce a complex world or choice
searching for meaning through work and more gener-
to the simplest possible terms can be irresistible, and
ally through social contribution (Savickas, 1997) is
it can also be very effective. Such an approach is likely
central to the Shiftwork approach. Indeed the form
to be effective if there is a high degree of clarity, a lot
and shape of each person’s strange attractor can be
of available information, low costs associated with
thought of in terms of their systems of values, meaning
chang ing course, no long term implications or a
and beliefs (Pryor & Bright, 2004). Hence within
pressing need to decide. However many career deci-
this approach, meaning, mattering and awareness of
sions do not conform to this prescription. Often the
the ever-present Black Swans (non-linear unplanned
options are many, vague or complex, information
events) are central to the career counselling enterprise.
may be incom plete or inaccurate, costs associated
with changing course may be perceived or in reality
shiFt 8: FRom inFoRming to
be high, or there may be no pressing need to decide
inFoRming anD tRansFoRming
imme diately. Under conditions of change, complexity
The Information Age means there is unprecedented,
and chance attempts to think about career decisions in
democratised access to information. In an era where
closed systems (i.e., simplified) terms are less likely to
many universities around the world have made their
be effective and run the risk of lulling the individual
staff’s lectures available to all through iTunes and other
into a false sense of certainty, or limiting the individual
web-based applications and where interest inventories,
to an unnecessarily constrained and unimaginative
job analysis tools, classifications of occupations, videos,
range of choices.
blogs and twitters are all available to anyone on the
In Chaos Theory of Careers terms, this would
planet and often at no cost, the role of the careers
amount to clients being trapped into Point (Goal),
coun sellor needs to shift. In the career development
Pendulum (Role) or Torus (Routine) attractors (Bright
discipline there are examples of free electronic access to
& Pryor, 2005; Pryor & Bright, 2007). Such approaches
career experts such as Savickas and Glavin’s Vocopher
are likely to be ineffective in assisting the client to
(Savickas & Glavin, 2008) project, or the Bright and
confront the realities of change that is sometimes
Associates Factory Podcast (Bright, 2008b).
dramatic. Such approaches run the risk that change
The emphasis on providing information is now
will be under-estimated and humility will be replaced
under challenge from the sheer volume of information
with complacency (Taleb, 2007).
available. Those professionals who pride themselves on
Shiftwork involves recognising the usefulness of
being information portals are becoming overloaded
closed-system thinking under certain constrained
and defeated by the exponential growth in occupational
conditions, while at the same recognising that in the
infor mation. The shift in practice away from infor-
longer term, the open systems reality of the chaotic
mation provision needs to be towards assisting clients to
strange attractor is a more useful way of understanding
reform and transform the information into personally
self and the world. In counselling terms, this means
relevant and practical strategies for action. The Chaos
encouraging and supporting clients in developing strat-
Theory of Careers highlights that no matter how
egies to explore uncertainty, and to develop oppor tunity
much information we have, we can never be sure that
awareness. It encourages an attitude of acknowledging
we have the full picture at the time individuals have to
the unplanned as inevitable and welcoming it as pro-
choose. Therefore they can never be totally confident
viding creative possibilities.
about the outcome of whatever decision is made.
Adopting an open-system approach should not
Career information continues to be a vital element
be mistaken for abandoning any form or structure
in career development, however career information
in career development. Within the Chaos Theory of
is merely an ingredient in career transformation.
Careers the strange attractor has an emergent stable
Shiftwork eschews reifying information and recog-
and recognisable form, but this form is subject to
nises how new information technologies can free us up
continual change which is sometimes dramatic. The
to be more effective. The counselling process itself can
Shiftwork approach does not encourage trusting to
also benefit from the use of information technology
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and some such as Lewis and Coursol (2007), Chester
shiFt 10: FRom knowing in
and Glass (2006) and Gredge (2008) report on already
aDVance to liVing with
developed effective models that harness podcasting and
emeRgence
email in career counselling. Social networking sites
Given the inherent uncertainties that comprise and
such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are already
surround us, the need to know in advance becomes
being used by job hunters to advance their credentials,
even less plausible or desirable. It becomes a recipe
and possibilities exist using these technologies and
for stagnation, stalling, prevarication because one can
others such as Voice Over Internet Protocols to develop
never know for sure in advance. This does not prevent
internet-based individual and group counselling
clients from attempting to impose the expectation of
sessions for minimal costs. Such approaches may over-
foresight on beleaguered counsellors.
come some of the cost and distance barriers to accessing
The Shiftwork approach is to recognise that action
affordable and effective career counselling.
is a way of gathering information that may inform
future strategies. Consequently, in this approach
shiFt 9: FRom noRmatiVe
actively engaging with the environment in an ongoing
thinking to noRmatiVe anD
way is as important as off-line career strategising. This
scalaBle thinking
engagement may be purposeful and result in planned
Many career counsellors and social scientists in
outcomes and desired knowledge but equally it may
gener al, are trained to accept a perhaps unconsidered
well result in serendipitous discoveries and personal
or uncritical appreciation of the bell-shaped curve.
transformations. Such an approach may require the
The normal or bell-shaped curve assumes that the
counsellor working on strategies to boost the client’s
occurrence of natural phenomena takes the charac-
self-efficacy or tolerance of ambiguity when engaged
teristic form of high frequencies around the average,
in activities that may not yield any clear pattern or
and decreasing frequencies as scores move away from
direction immediately. Furthermore, developing a
the average in a characteristically bell shape. This
strong sense of purpose will assist in directing engaged
encourages both counsellors and their clients to believe
effort toward activities that are more likely to bear
that ‘other than typical or average’ occurrences are
fruit, while at the same time recognising that there are
always highly unlikely.
no guarantees.
Taleb (2007) argues persuasively that there are
severe limitations manifest in applying the normal
shiFt 11: FRom tRust as
curve to complex systems. The normal curve fails to
contRol to tRust as Faith
account for non-linearity or scalability. The fact is
Trust is central to a career counselling relationship
that events which are out of all proportion with what
and is often alluded to by proxy with terms such as
went before can and do happen. They happen all the
‘rapport’, ‘confidence’, ‘putting the client at ease’. In
time. Oil crises occur. Terrorists attack. Tsunamis
career counselling, there are at least two meanings
inundate coastlines. Viruses spread. People get injured
of the word trust. The first usage may be termed a
and sick. Actors are discovered overnight and become
closed system view of trust as being related to control
famous, successful and rich. Fortunes are made and
and predictability. Trust in this sense is based upon
lost on the stock market or through mergers and
the assumption that only a limited set of carefully
acquisitions. Girls meet princes in pubs and become
considered outcomes could eventuate, and that the
Danish Royalty. The impact of events both positive
client having considered all the possibilities is comfor-
and negative is immense and we need to be aware that
table with any of them eventuating. This is trust as
they will happen. It points to the limits of our control,
control. From this perspective, trust is the level of
but also to the need to understand complex systems
confidence individuals have in the strategy of limiting
as continually shifting, interconnected and subject to
options to a manageable (and hence predictable)
sudden change. The Chaos Theory of Careers and
response set.
the Shiftwork approach recognises both the utility of
However, the Shiftwork approach and Chaos Theory
using the normal curve where appropriate, but also the
of Careers generally reminds us that rarely are situations
opportunities and threats associated with living in a
so completely predictable, and hence those that confer
complex, interconnected and scaleable world.
trust because they think they know what could happen
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are labouring under a misapprehension. This applies
with occupations. Shiftwork presents an expanded and
not only to the client, but also to the counsellor. Sadly it
more inclusive paradigm of career counseling which
is not unheard of for counsellors to encourage clients to
supplements the matching process with the further
trust them by mistakenly over-estimating the degree of
realities of complexity, non-linearity, emergence and
control that the counsellor has over
phase shift, which confront the
proceedings. A common example is
career decision-making process with
the promise to a client of complete
the neglected challenges of chance,
‘ Shiftwork does not represent
confidentiality in situations where
any more of a radical
uncertainty and human limitations
the counselor has legal obligations to
on knowledge and control.
departure from current
disclose information to others such
Shiftwork and the Chaos Theory
as supervisors, colleagues or courts.
practice, than engaging
of Careers represent powerful new
Trust as faith is a deeper, more
the shift-key on a keyboard
explanatory frameworks that locate
complete sense of trust that recog-
and honour tried and true practices,
represents a departure from the
nises the limits of our knowledge
embrace changes that enhance the
default keyset.
and foresight, and instead invests
’
delivery of our services and face
trust as faith that the counsellor
up squarely to the exacting and
will act in an ethical and responsible manner which
exciting opportunities of twenty-first century career
gener ally will be in our best interests. The Shiftwork
development.
approach is to establish trust as faith as the basis for
counselling rather than trust as control. This involves
ReFeRences
open and regular discussions about the possibilities of
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Beyond the immediate ethical considerations, trust
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Ariely, D. (2008). Predictability irrational: The hidden forces that
their own abilities (Betz, 2004), and to develop luck
shape our decisions. New York: Harper.
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Betz, N. E. (2004). Contributions of self-efficacy theory to career
faith involves encouraging clients to overcome their
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fears through courage.
Quarterly, 52(4), 340–354.
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19(2), 18–20.
Shiftwork represents a mindset, a toolkit and an
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Shiftwork does not represent any more of a radical
Bright, J. E. H., & Pryor, R. G. L. (2003). The exploring
departure from current practice, than engaging the
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about the change process in a principled and powerful
Brisbane: Australian Academic Press.
way that recognises the realities of career and life as
Bright, J. E. H., & Pryor, R. G. L. (2005). The chaos theory of
experienced by us and our clients in a complex, inter-
careers: A user’s guide. Career Development Quarterly, 53(4),
connected and changing world.
291–305.
Chaos theory in general has signaled a change of
Bright, J. E. H., & Pryor, R. G. L. (2007). Chaotic careers
emphasis in science as a whole. It represents a new
assessment: How constructivist and psychometric techniques
field of theory, research and practice that incorporates
can be integrated into work and life decision making. Career
complexity and change as well as simplicity and stability.
Planning and Adult Development Journal, 23 (2), 30–45.
Traditional career counselling reflects the emphasis on
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simplicity and stability in the focus of matching people
of Vocational Behavior, 64, 470–484.
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Articles
a U t H o r s
PROFESSOR JIM BRIGHT is the Professor of Career Education and Development in the School of
Education, Australian Catholic University. He is also a partner in Bright and Associates, a career manage-
ment and training consulting firm. His research and practice focuses on the application of the Chaos Theory
of Careers to individuals and organisations.
Email: jim@brightandassociates.com.au
PROFESSOR ROBERT PRYOR is an Adjunct Professor of Career Development in the School of Education,
Australian Catholic University. He is also a director of two other consultancies—Congruence Pty Ltd and
the Vocational Capacity Centre Pty Ltd.
t H E o r y a n d P r a C t i C E
This section is designed as a brief professional review of the article. It provides relevant
study questions and answers for readers to test their knowledge of the article.
What do you understand by the notion of Shiftwork
Shift 2: From Plans To Plans And Planning
as defined in this article?
Shift 3: From Narrowing Down To Being Focused
Answer: Shiftwork can be defined as all those acti-
On Openness
vities in which career counsel ors engage to assist
Shift 4: From Control To Control ed Flexibility
their clients to develop the skil s of adaptation and
Shift 5: From Risk As Failure To Risk As Endeavour
resilience required to negotiate and use productively
Shift 6: From Probabilities To Probable Possibilities
the fluctuating fortunes of their careers. It includes
Shift 7: From Goals, Roles And Routines To
assisting clients to reinvent themselves continual y, to
Meaning, Mattering, And Black Swans
identify opportunities, to recover from setbacks, to
Shift 8: From Informing To Informing And
find meaningful work that matters to them and to
Transforming
others and to capitalise on chance. Hence Shiftwork
Shift 9: From Normative Thinking To Normative
covers the major developmental tasks in 21st century
And Scalable Thinking
career development.
Shift 10: From Knowing In Advance To Living With
Emergence
What are the recommended 11 shifts in career
Shift 11: From Trust As Control To Trust As Faith
coun sel ing practice?
Answer:
What do you know for sure you will be doing in five
Shift 1: From Prediction To Prediction And Pattern
years time?
Making
Answer: Who knows!
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