Keys to Your Career Success
Vandana, Founder of Chrrysallis, is a Global Awards winner ‘Business Leader of The Year – Executive Coach of The Year’ 2021 and more such recognitions. She is ICF licensed CEO and Leadership Coach, Writer & Speaker with PCC level accreditation and over 3000 coaching hours developing Leaders in Governments, Public and Private sector companies globally like USA, India, UK, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Europe, and others. She curates a newer version of an indispensable leader in her clients and enables them to achieve greater success.
When you give love to your job, you get abundance in return
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
‘I am Lucky, I am truly blessed. I love my job! I am truly in love with what I do at work.’ – Do these words sound like a dream of your life? This was Laila’s dream. Laila is a senior management employee in a Government company. When I met Laila, we discussed her job and her career plans. she said “I get all tingly when I think about the future. It’s kind of scary but also feels exciting, It is the experience that reminds me of my childhood when I used to wait in the queue for those big rides at a theme park. I used to be so excited, eager to experience the unknown, yes there were fears too, but since I was passionate and wanting to have it, I was ready to deal with everything including my fears and all the unknowns”.
As per the global research, on average, an employee spends eight hours each day, around 40 hours each week and 160 hours each month, and approximately over 2000 hours each year in the workplace. With all, that commitment isn’t it clear that it is so important for an employee to be in love with what they do in their career? And equally love their workplace environment. My conversations with Laila reminded me of the famous prose poem ‘Desiderata’ means ‘desired things’ written by Max Ehrmann In 1972. His writing reflects his concerns about the social problems of the times and his poem Desiderata expressed his ideas of what really leads to happiness in life. He has one particular phrase that directly explains, ’Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.’
WHAT IS THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS?
I told Laila that there are many populations that believe, Happiness is a state of our mental well-being. As United Nations, UN recognizes that happiness is a fundamental human goal. And hence, they created International Happiness Day, and it is celebrated on March 20th every year. What is her secret to happiness in her career? Laila replied, ‘it is owning their career, their actions, their success, and failures.’ I still remember that beautiful smile she wore on her face while replying to me. She added, ‘When you have a passion for something in life, you recognize your passion and bring it to your job. Select a job that you are passionate about doing as a career, and then your passion intersects with the job, and you will not require any supervision at all. You will manage yourself better than anyone could. The fire comes from within and not without. I had made a mistake in selecting my first job and that leads me to feel a hazy vision for my future. But then I reached out for help and I recognized my passion and took a job that aligned with it. It’s been 18 years in my career, and I am enjoying every day of my life at work. I think I have maintained a joy for my new learnings, and I am highly conscious of my career decision-making. My happiness comes from the knowledge that I have made a positive contribution and not because my bank balance is healthy.’
This conversation reminded me of a deeper aspect about our careers, it is not something to be left on a dusty shelf and taken out once a year when you meet for a career interview or appraisals. It is so important to keep interested in our careers and a mindset. Let us understand the reasons employees love their job:
IMPORTANT REASONS WHY EMPLOYEES LOVE THEIR JOB
Culture
Culture is created through consistent and authentic behaviors. Press releases or policy documents do not build an organization’s culture and transparency. It is seen when a CEO responds to the crisis, how a team adapts to new demands in business or the way a manager handles the situation and his employee upon making a mistake. Laila beautifully explained about her company culture that it is the collection of values, expectations, and practices. At her organization, employee values are aligned with organization values that exemplify positive traits in all the employees, which leads to improved performance and business goals and objectives. She feels safe, happy, and motivated to do her job.
Relationship
The Foundation of any relationship is TRUST. And Trust is built when teams believe in each other when there are lines open for communication. This helps keep professional objectives clear and projects focused all the time. If the employee displays a more efficient way to complete the job at hand, his manager and the management are there to listen, encourage, and motivates them to find more innovative ways to do things. Isn’t this a great way to display trust in their people and that leads to great relationships at work? Laila’s manager has encouraged her and others in the team to employ critical thinking, her manager was always ready and willing to intervene and support when the task got difficult. This had elicited the skills of building relations, team management, and qualities of a great leader in her, and as she grew in her career, this has become her natural style as a people manager.
? Just find the right job of your dreams and that will be the beginning in the making of an unstoppable version of you.
Challenges
Interesting and stimulating tasks made Laila feel not only productive but also committed to her job. She was willing to prove that she deserves to be at a higher level, her company allowed her to excel, which translated into growth opportunities. The door to endless possibilities opened for her. She says, “If you work hard and stand out and go above and beyond to prove yourself, you will definitely get promoted.” Organizations thrive on managers who constantly believe in their employees, their push to endeavor on projects that are felt way beyond their employees’ abilities both for the age and knowledge. Imagine, how would be the feeling of accomplishment when an employee is up against the deadline and they have only one shot to get it right, and they achieve the desired outcomes.
Being Valued
Every employee loves having a voice. Being heard, understood, and supported is the most important part of employees being valued. Laila shared her 2 experiences with her manager. About 15 years back, she had missed her targets, her boss then Sofia walked at her desk and told her that she has not achieved her targets this time, it’s not acceptable, she will have to make up in the coming quarter and much more… Laila felt low, not understood, not wanted, not even asked the reasons for her failure, and felt threatened by her boss Sofia. She had one more repeated experience with Sofia and this time probably Laila was so discouraged that she left the job. After a few years, she missed her targets, this time her boss Richard spoke with her, his tone was full of empathy, he said, ‘you have missed the targets this time. And that is fine. It happens sometimes, I am sure there would be some reason. In case, you need any support from my end, let me know, I will be happy to help.’ Laila felt that she was important to the organization, her boss did not judge her, instead, empathize and offered support to uplift the performance. In her current company, her boss listens to her ideas and the whole team works together to make them happen. They all support each other and work together to offer creative feedback and then make their ideas a reality. Every employee love being appreciated and listened to, isn’t it?
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together, within and between teams. Information, time, various resources, and shared with each other. When individuals collaborate, each person has an opportunity to contribute, share their best ideas, put efforts together so, each team is more productive and resourceful. There is knowledge within each member of the team, and they get a better understanding of their role. When Laila collaborated with another employee from her team on a project, she learned so many things and she was motivated to work more energetically, She gave many reasons to look forward to more such collaborations at work:
Learn from each other
Problem Solving with a solution-focused mindset
Vision for Bigger Picture
Participation with teams
Brainstorming
Be more adaptive and Flexible
Listen First
Motivate self and others
Employees love their job when they share the same vision and dedication to the same mission. They care for each other and support professional growth. This truly creates a family environment.
Work-Life Balance
When an employee has his passion driving the profession, he loves what he does at work. Laila expressed it so well in her words – “I love that I have a great degree of control and freedom within my job. I work full-time on a flexible schedule, both in and out of the office, and my boss trusts me to produce high-quality work and results. I work hard to maintain that level of trust, which keeps me engaged and excited — but at the same time, I love that my job enables me to love and enjoy my other passions in life,” She further added, that she works a lot, and still, she can arrange a time for her hobbies and spend time with friends after work hours.
Organizations are built by their employees and when employees love what they do in their profession, the role assigned is just a title for them, they are truly driven by their passion. Such employees become extraordinarily successful as they are independent, their manager does not invest much time in monitoring their work, they are self-starters, highly motivated, risk-takers, they love taking challenges and new assignments, bigger responsibilities. They will not look at a problem as a problem, instead search for solutions, they look at things from different perspectives. They have a fire within and not without. The learning curve is steep; they adapt to change and collaborate with everyone in the teams. Just imagine the organizations having such employees, can anyone stop these organizations’ growth and so the employee promotions? How much do you love your job? Have you aligned your passion with your job? Are you doing what you love to do? Just find the right job of your dreams and that will be the beginning of the making of an unstoppable version of you.
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CAREER ADVICE
GOV TALK
