The right person-job-environment fit to help you love your job.
Regardless of salary, title or location, the fact is you can only really feel passionate about your job if it’s the right one for you.
Stories abound of high powered, but unhappy executives whose sea-change or gamble on a new career has transformed their life. But the right role doesn’t always have to be a drastic measure, a large risk or even a particularly unusual step. The best person-job-environment fit is possible in the smallest (or largest) organisation and at the most junior (or senior) role.
Often though, as we climb the corporate ladder we begin to lose sight of what we wanted out of our careers in the first place. There are some very simple techniques to reacquaint yourself with them and ensure you’re in a BestFit position – whether you’re a professional starting out, a seasoned CEO, or a middle manager thinking of the next step.
Remind Yourself of your Work Values.
A good match between personal characteristics and work environment results in optimum levels of performance, motivation and work enjoyment, as well as lower levels of stress and greater quality of life. Learning more about yourself allows a more informed choice to be made as to the environment or career and the environment in which you will perform best.
Everyone has made a decision to accept or decline a career opportunity at some point. This may have been conscious or it may have been more “gut feel”. And that “gut feel” is usually based on your work values, and how the opportunity stacks up against them:
- SECURITY – be assured of a job and receiving reasonable pay
- VARIETY – having frequently changing responsibilities
- INDEPENDENCE – working with little direction or supervision
- COMPETITION – pitting your skills & abilities against others to win
- TIME/FREEDOM – being able to schedule your own work and not having rigid timeframes
- STATUS – working in a position which leads others to respect you
- MONEY – earning large amounts of money or gaining material rewards
- CREATIVITY – thinking up new ideas, programs, ways of doing things
- DECISION MAKING – being in a position to decide how things should be done
- RECOGNITION – receiving visible or public appreciation for your work
- PEOPLE CONTACT – having daily contact with others
- HELPING SOCIETY – doing something which is worthwhile and meaningful to society as a whole
- EXPERTISE – being known as someone who has special skills or knowledge in a specific field
- HELPING OTHERS – helping individuals and/or groups
- BELONGING – feeling a part of an organisation
- WORK ALONE – doing things without much contact with other people
- POWER – being able to direct & influence others
- PRECISION – doing work that requires a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail
- EXCITEMENT – doing work which is stimulating & thrilling
- STABILITY – having work responsibilities that follow a routine and are predictable
- ORDER – doing work which requires planning, organisation and coordination
- STRUCTURE – being able to work within specific rules, procedures and guidelines
- SPARE TIME – having enough time to devote to other aspects of your life
When you were reading through this list, you were probably mentally ticking off each one based on its importance to you and whether the role you’re in now is in keeping with your values. This is a decision only you can make, but it’s one that many people do not devote sufficient time to.
Case in Point:
The CEO of a major Australian company approached Chandler Macleod privately, as they were considering a career change because of frustrations in progressing the strategy they wanted to implement.
With the support of one of our executive coaches, they were re-energised, recommitted themselves to their existing company, and were able to implement the tough changes that they felt were needed. |
Think about an Executive Coach.
Coaching is a combination of mentoring, training, teaching, motivation and management planning. While it draws upon theories of human behaviour and thinking which underpin much of counselling, coaching focuses primarily on pragmatic business outcomes.
Just as with a sports team or athlete, coaching is:
- a vehicle by which you move forward from one place to another
- a process which helps someone else expand and apply his or her skills, knowledge and abilities
- a purposeful conversation about creating positive directed change
- a process which helps people to achieve greater success through mentoring, motivating, guiding, teaching and self awareness.
Executive Coaching methods are intended to change behaviour, improve performance, or assist in professional or personal development. It provides a means for structured, independent review and support for professional and executive career decision making.
Take our 5-minute personality test.
The 5-minute personality test above is a small introduction to this concept and can be regarded as a bit of fun (as well as a possible source of insight), but structured and detailed psychometric assessments are invaluable in enabling strong “fit” between and individual, and his or her role and organisational culture and environment, is an analysis of behaviour, motivations and temperament. This is just as important as skills and abilities – in fact, in terms of loving your job it may even be more important.
Talk to an Executive Recruitment Expert.
If after conducting the activities outlined in this article, you believe that your current role is not the ideal fit for you, then it’s time to engage with a professional Recruitment Consultant to assist you with your next career move. Contact our Perth team on 08 9217 0510 for a confidential discussion.