Job and identity
Prasad Oommen Kurian
Head - Learning & OD at Bajaj Finserv Group|Talent Management|Lean Six Sigma Black Belt|Executive Coach|PhD Scholar|Author
Some time ago, I left the job that I had been doing for many years and took up a different type of job with another organization. I also got the opportunity to take a three-week break in between - the first?in my career?that I had done so. I spent most of this time in outside my home location - with some of my close relatives. This also meant that I met a lot people (the friends/relatives of my relatives), and, I was?meeting?most of them for the first time. One 'side effect' of this was that I had to answer the question "So Prasad, what are you doing now?" - roughly three times/day, about 40 times in total over a two week period.
Initially, I tried the answer "I am on vacation"?- but that did not seem to work. People would wait for me to say more. and. if I did not say anything more they would ask me something like "What do you do for a living?". To this, I tried to give the answer "I work mainly in the area of Organization Effectiveness". But, even that answer did not seem satisfactory. Sooner or later people would ask me "Which company do you work for?". To this, I tried answering "I am in between jobs" (or "I am taking a break") - but this also did not appear to work well (and sometimes this answer elicited a confused and/or sympathetic look/expression also). Hence, finally I was forced to answer "I was working for company 'C1' till date ' d1' and I would be joining company 'C2' on date 'd2' ". While this turned out to be 'satisfactory answer' (from a social perspective), it made me feel quite uneasy.
My uneasiness was mainly at two levels. At the 'social level', I was bothered about how would I have handled this question if I was not in a position to say that "I would be joining company 'C2' on date 'd2' ". At more personal level, I was wondering whether I can articulate a clear answer (just for my own consumption) to our initial question ("So Prasad, what are you doing now ?"), without referring to any of my employers (past, present or future!) or to the job titles.
After I thought about it for a while, I felt that uneasiness at the first level was not a very important - as it was arising mainly from 'social desirability' and 'norms of polite communication in a particular social group' - and hence it should not bother one unduly, so long as the 'economic viability' angle has been taken care of. The uneasiness at the personal level was more difficult to address. Once I resisted the temptation to 'destroy the question' by resorting to philosophical answers (e.g. one should be bothered about 'being' as opposed to 'doing'), the real issue became "Have I wrapped my identity too much into my job or career ?". I feel that this is an important question that needs to be looked at more carefully.
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There are conflicting trends operating here. On the one hand, many of us spend a very large part of our waking lives at work. Many of the jobs are very demanding and they occupy a lot of our 'psychological space' - much beyond office space and office hours. Our?'passion for work', might make work and the achievements at the workplace very important for us. It has also been argued that in an environment where the role holder has the opportunity to shape the role to a large extent (and/or where people are expected to be responsible for managing/developing their careers), role identity and career identity are essential for success/effectiveness.
On the other hand, these days many people routinely change jobs or even change careers. Again, often people are forced out of their jobs and careers by organizational changes(right sizing, restructuring etc.). Thus, if your identity is wrapped up in what you do, a change of job or a change of careers (especially if they were forced on you) becomes traumatic (much more so in the case of a job loss). Please see 'Of owning and belonging' for a discussion on the extent to which one can say 'My company'.
So, where do all this leave us? Developing and understanding our identity as individuals is essential for personal effectiveness. This would serve an anchor point for us when everything around us are changing. While job and career identities are useful from a job/career effectiveness/success point of view, they can't define who we are as individuals. Jobs and careers are like the cloths that individuals wear and change. Just as we can't let our cloths define us (though some of us might choose to express some aspects of ourselves through the way we dress), we can't let our jobs and careers define us completely. Hence, it is very important for one to examine one's current definition of oneself and if the results don't show anything beyond job and career identity, it is time for investing significant time and effort for expanding the boundaries of those definitions. Of course, developing and understanding our identity as individuals is a lifelong process.
By the way, there is another reason for being careful about this 'sense of identity wrapped up in job' . It has been argued that 'sense of identity wrapped up in job' is one of the factors that could predict the risk of violent behavior at the workplace. So now the relevant questions are - "Are you at risk??" and "Are you a risk??" !!!
Consultant|Advisor |Business Development| Empowering MSMEs, SMEs & Startups to Scale & Succeed| Customer Acquisition, Retention & Expansion |Core Engineering & Tech Solutions| Founder-EGP, BVPRGJ & Geo-Consortium.
3 年A very relevant question that everyone needs to ponder over. "Have I wrapped my identity too much into my job or career ?" Quite interesting Prasad Kurian as always!
Associate Fellow Wharton | Dale Carnegie Certified Trainer | HR Leader | Talent, Performance and Learning Practitioner
3 年Prasad Kurian Great post and as always a practical topic which leaves most of us on a Career or Role or Identity Crisis. Especially occuring at a time of loss in either of the choices made to seek an acceptance and validation with other in a network. The larger dimension here is the "Collective Setup" on acceptance specific to ways of living, making livelihood and norms those which are regarded as successful in this collectivism. Hence there is always a swirl and angst to create this affinity to bigger brands, higher jobs when they are seen as a symbol of personal achievements. That said i guess the question that we should be really be asking is - where is one on their journey in life, their purpose graph! This lets the person talk on how do they see their life, happiness and responsibilities to accomplish their life goals instead of explaining the road not taken or to justify the road that they are in already!
HR Professional
3 年Prasad Kurian A great question Sir. We are what we do. But is it actually our identity ? If you are not working, you lose your identity and so in terms of society norms ur respect as well. #LifeBeyondWork
HR and OD Consultant | Executive Coaching (PCC-ICF) | Assessor
3 年If your job is your passion, probably Job and Identity merge to a great extent. I see the Gen Z started walking this path.. How far can this be sustaintained is the key..
Leadership Coach & Trainer, IAC Masteries Practitioner, NEWS Certified Coach, ISEC Certified Executive Coach, NLP Master Practitioner, Occasional Magician
3 年Great point Prasad. Tough question - We are what we do or we are what we are? Or both?