As careers become less predictable and more influenced by change, the idea of a fixed ‘path’ can sometimes feel limiting. Carme Martínez-Roca explores this perspective, questioning whether traditional metaphors reflect the complexities people navigate. She introduces an alternative way of thinking – a personalised marine navigation system – that acknowledges individual, interpersonal and structural circumstances and the need to have the competencies and support to face and reduce them:
I have always avoided the term ‘path’ in the guidance work we implement because I consider it to be narrow, restrictive and frustrating. The reasons to see it like that are various: the person who cannot follow the path feels like a failure; the term is sometimes used as a synonym of trajectory when it is not; it takes us to talk about linear and non-linear paths as if we must justify that the latter are not worse than the first… Given the VUCA world we are living in, that is, given the present volatile society, where change is an increasingly accelerated constant and uncertainty the only certitude, where the existing complexity makes it difficult to make decisions effective and ambiguity to even take them, it is necessary to rethink this metaphor to develop guidance practices that offer 21st century tools for personal fulfillment, social equity and environmentalism. Antonio Machado’s poem offers inspiration to do so:
Traveler, there is no path; you make your own path as you walk
Traveler, there is no path; only ship’s wakes on the sea
If there is no path but there is a sea, what the people we work with need is a personalized marine navigation system that empowers them to:
- Define what options do they have; what is it that they are considering navigating towards: What meaningful horizons are they contemplating?
- Analyze their current situation in a comprehensive way. That is, establish what personal, interpersonal, structural, health or functional diversity strengths and barriers favor or prevent navigation: What type of boat are they and what are the conditions of the sea?
- Identify the competencies and support they need to make decisions and carry them out: How to take advantage of the strengths their boat has? What help do they need to navigate, together with others, to face and improve the conditions of the sea?
- Answer the questions: What can I do now? What support do I need to do it? Who else can I do it with? How do I establish and use a personalized navigation system?
Deixo aquí l’enllaç per a qui ho vulgui veure en castellà
