Love your life spent at work..... can you really?

Loving your job, do organisations really support this during interview processes and once you are employed?

This week I’ve had some very reflective discussion with people that flipped a discussion on its head (always like disruptive conversations) which made me really question if you can love your life spent at work and how you can make this possible. Hoping some of my reflections and ideas provoke thinking that can help you to reflect too, and possibly take some action when you are reflecting on your own interview processes.

How often do we stop, think and question our choices or even what we are doing. Do we reflect on our current situation, the environment we are in, the impact others have on us?

My discussions were around how we can make interviews more disruptive. Lots of organisations spend most of the time talking through someones background (classic biographical interviews or competency interviews), what skills they have, their experiences, key achievements at work. They miss out, in my opinion, one of the most important elements of any interview though, the cultural fit, personal and work values, motivators that really excite them to exceptional performance and how these match to the organisation and the role.?

Most don’t realise that when disengagement starts happening, in a working environment, there is a miss-alignment in an element of the role or the business. Would you actively join a business that had core values or culture that didn’t match yours? Guessing the answer to this is NO, but, how many interviews or meetings have you had where this isn’t discussed, explored or talked about, probably very few. This is something that as an employee you would expect people to research and ask but do people really explain it or do any kind of assessment to see if there is a culture fit and to identify peoples values?

Some organisations may say they do this but once people start do they constantly monitor, talk about values and culture fit. Individual personal values change over time, due to different environments we find ourselves in, but do we continually re-address this with the business culture and values? With the recent pandemic believe that company cultures are also changing, how do they make sure they are still aligned with their employees or do they just market them and make them glossy? Probably not, we just start getting frustrated and can’t understand what has gone wrong eventually leading to either dis-engagement or looking for a new role.

So the big questions is how do we address this? I use the 3 Ps of Engagement model to help understand where I am, how much I am loving my job and if I’m not what is missing. This enables me to have a discussion with my manager to determine if things can change to re-engage me in my role or support other opportunities in the business or maybe help understand what actions I need too take.

The 3 Ps of Engagement model works on a simple formula that says if personal and work values are aligned with role and the organisation, then there is a greater chance performance in role is high. This is because it most likely to be aligned with job drivers and motivators that lends itself to going the extra mile. When all this is aligned it increases the chance of ‘Loving My Job’. If though something is missing, or changes in values or culture then it should be discussed because this could become a de-railer and will ultimately lead to a loss in productivity, performance and achieving my own levels of personal passion. You will end up on a ‘rollercoaster’ that could eventually stop with being dis-engaged.

When on the the rollercoaster often people put how they are feeling as ’a bad day at work’ and don’t reflect on why it was a bad day, if you don’t act on this by reflecting, the danger is this one bay day turns in two and then three in a week, now you really aren’t?loving the time spent at work. Here is a simple process to challenge those bad days.

Think about your personal values, how these align with the business, what you love doing at work, what you want to continue doing at work, maybe what you aren’t enjoying, challenge the thinking and then see how this matches up to your current role, organisation and potential opportunity for the future. If you are sitting there lost and not sure then speak to you boss, or even a colleague, and share your thinking. Many years of experience as a leader tells me I would rather know someone isn’t happy, so I can try and address it, rather than waiting for the resignation letter to arrive, you will often be surprised by the response you get.

As organisations consider their policies and culture, post COVID, it may be time for you to also reflect. As a recruiter are we using the right processes in candidate assessments? As an individual, is this the right business for me, am I getting the right support needed, do I still align with possible shifts in culture? This is why we are going through ‘The Great Resignation’ period because people are reflecting and realising there is mis-alignment.

Don’t be afraid to talk out, I always say ‘Engagement is owned by you, don’t wait to be engaged, go and find your own engagement’.