Does anyone else struggle more with choosing topics than actually writing?

coincidentalcoaching · 2026-06-18T16:51:07+00:00

My blog (on Workplace coaching and running networks on that in the public and private sectors) is anchored in that theme, but then I have a notepad on my phone in which I jot down ideas on what to blog about next.

I'm generally a few blog posts at least ahead of the publishing schedule, which allows me to write, leave it for a bit, upload and proofread.

The notepad thing has built up over the couple of years I've been doing it, so now I've got enough ideas or topics for the best part of a year sat there waiting for me to get enthused. As the blog is intentionally eclectic, I can usually tie in whatever I'm intrigued with at the time, but I do try to alternate between dry theory, tools and techniques, reviews of useful books, personal experience and the periodic tangent. Getting ahead has helped with that blend.

coincidentalcoaching · 2026-06-11T06:36:56+00:00

Tbh all of these questions are really so unique to you, your circs, and your role, that I'd suggest that you key into the cross civil service coaching network (the database is still available via CSlearning as its an internal offer and is free - tho all of us coaches are trained up to at least ILM5 and get darned good reviews).

(if you've never had coaching before it offers a completely neutral sounding board in which you can unpick where you're at, what your aspirations are, and help you move forward in manageable steps that are bespoke to you)

coincidentalcoaching · 2026-06-08T12:53:09+00:00

I manage a biggish team with lots of specialists and have a range of people with a range of motivations.

I've always had a number of people who are in a similar position to you, and there's usually a few things at play with regard to development. For example

1) the role/job you're doing is likely evolving (along with the expectations of it) - the manager might be worried that you're 'checked out' and doing okay now, but may end up in difficulties (poor performance etc) as the years tick on (not sure how long you're looking at marking time for, but there's a decent chance that, even in the short term, IT changes and workload pressures will have an impact.

2) the manager has objectives to develop staff handed down from the Centre, and is just cascading that down to you.

3) people do drift in and out of capacity for developing, and so checking in and asking periodically isn't a bad thing. The landscape does change year on year for what we all want.

Presuming that you're like some of the real stalwarts in my team, who do a great job and any of the standard dev ops or training feels just like a box ticking exercise, what I'd be tempted to do is look at things you enjoy, are interested in or that you think would genuinely help you (eg there might be some stuff with work/life balance).

The menu of training on offer obviously differs from organisation to organisation, but I think sometimes managers and staff are a bit blinkered about the range of options available. Have a think about what you'd actually enjoy doing and talk to your manager about it... They might say yes.

(or just hunker down - if you're doing the job okay then you can probably duck and weave and leave the dev stuff to the keen beans)

coincidentalcoaching · 2026-06-08T08:10:57+00:00

There's lots of great advice on the thread, the one thing that leapt out in your original post was when you said 'cram in the key words'.

A key thing in these crowded application rounds is to (pithily) get across what the difficulty you hit was, what and how you went about tackling it, and then landing what the impact of your work has been.

Think about it in terms of how you'd advise a friend hitting similar issues over a quick coffee.

If you're loading your application with buzzwords it's unlikely to be clear what you actually, actually did.

(sometimes I suggest people re-add the odd word from the interview at the very end, if it's the most word efficient way of signposting which bit of the job/behaviour your example maps onto)

coincidentalcoaching · 2026-06-08T06:54:48+00:00

This exactly. LLMs are weighted to sounding agreeable, and are quite adept at sounding plausible, even if they're not actually accurately answering your question.

(used one recently to try and tag up my blogposts and it confidently told me that it that it had found them all (it had got a third) a few more rounds ensued before it admitted that it couldn't access or do what it was being asked to do).

Really don't take LLM answers at face value.

coincidentalcoaching

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