Searching for Your Kind of Workplace
Are you doing work that you love? Many of you logged in to the interactive tool we posted. I hope most of you concluded you were deeply engaged in your work.
If not, you certainly deserve to be. Like the quest to find a great life partner — and the pity of settling for a lackluster marriage — you don’t need to settle for a work relationship that is just so-so. Not with the shortages of skills and talent that are cropping up all around.
The key to finding work you love is figuring out what you personally value most highly and the role you want work to play in your life. Those are the issues behind last week’s downloadable assessment to identify your “Life’s Lure” — the archetype that most closely describes the elements of a work experience that will set your heart aflutter.
In the responses to that post, several of you pointed out attributes you value that weren’t readily apparent in the six categories that emerged from our research. And one of you wisely pointed to Ed Schein’s pioneering work in this area, which I much admire. Points all well taken. I’m not arguing for any one categorization. I am suggesting that understanding — and pursuing — your personal preferences is the best way to finding work you truly love.
If you haven’t taken the assessment, I hope you will now. Your dominant archetype should usefully influence many work choices, but none more strongly than the criteria you use when you decide whether or not to stay in your current position or evaluate your next job offer.
Here’s a quick overview of what each means when you’re searching for “your kind of place.”
Expressive Legacy. If this is your dominant archetype, work for you is about creating something with lasting value. You are likely to enjoy roles that allow you to be entrepreneurial, hardworking, and creative.
Judge your future possibilities in terms of the degree to which they offer:
• Work that will have a lasting impact on someone or something — the purpose of the work itself is very important to you; put this at the top of your list.
• Individual latitude — the degree to which you can do things your way and invent as you go
• Work that is stimulating and encourages you to be creative
• The degree to which the position will allow you to learn and grow
Work environments that are often engaging for individuals in this archetype include architecture (creating something with lasting value), construction (individual latitude and lasting value), professional services (stimulating work), art (lasting value), self-employment and entrepreneurial start-ups.
Secure Progress. If this is your dominant archetype, work for you is about upward mobility and long-term financial stability. You have a strong preference for secure environments and place high value on clear developmental career paths — a steady, predictable path to success.
Look for opportunities that offer:
• Stable, secure work environments — Take a close look at the nature of the industry and the track record of the company: is the industry highly cyclical or undergoing substantial restructuring? Is it realistic to expect that the company will be able to deliver on a promise of stability?
• A compensation package that is highly predictable (mostly cash, little in the way of stock or highly variable bonuses) and excellent benefits, including a solid retirement package
• Work with structure and routine
• Clearly defined career paths, with appropriate training offered to support advancement at each stage
Careers that are often engaging for individuals in this archetype include those in education, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Individual Expertise and Team Victory. You love the experience of being a valuable part of a winning team if this is your dominant archetype. You value an atmosphere that is cooperative and care deeply about being highly competent at the work you do.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer:
• Work that involves teaming with others
• Well-run organizations and competent colleagues
• An upbeat culture in which people have strong relationships and appear to have fun
• Work that leverages and builds your existing personal strengths
The particular industry is less important to individuals in this archetype than is finding team-based work environments. Many seek managerial roles.
Risk with Reward. If this is your dominant archetype, work is an opportunity for challenge, change, learning, and, hopefully, wealth. Individuals in this archetype tend to have lives filled with adventure–and see work as one way to experience a thrill.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer:
• Opportunities for personal financial upside
• Flexible workplaces and schedules based on your own terms
• Opportunities to choose assignments from a wide menu of options and change tasks frequently
• Open-ended tasks and approaches
• Frequent exposure to other bright people and recognized thought leaders
Work environments that are often engaging for individuals in this archetype include a wide variety of start-ups, and well as larger firms in technology and professional services. These individuals are frequently happiest being self-employed.
Flexible Support. If this is your dominant archetype, work is your livelihood but not currently a priority in your life. Individuals in this archetype are typically pursuing interests and priorities outside of work and place high value on environments that support balance in their lives.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer:
• Highly flexible work arrangements, including, to the extent possible, options for self-scheduling and/or virtual work
• Generous vacation or options for leave
• Cafeteria-style benefit programs allowing the choice among child care, elder care, and other options based on your specific needs
• Work with well-defined routines
• Work environments that are congenial and empathetic
Environments that often work for individuals in this archetype include roles in leisure and hospitality and financial services, since both are often able to offer the desired flexibility.
Limited Obligations. If this is your dominant archetype, work’s value to you is largely economic. Individuals in this archetype prefer work that makes minimal demands on their time.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer:
• Low barriers to entry
• Work with well-defined routines
• Traditional compensation and lucrative benefits packages
• Opportunities for periodic recognition
Work environments that are often suitable for individuals in this archetype, largely because the positions have low barriers to entry, include retail, wholesale, and transportation.
How well does your current position match your Life’s Lure?
Read all of Tammy Erickson’s Across the Ages posts
MORE ON CAREER MANAGEMENT:
Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths (Hardcover)
Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career (Paperback)
What It Means to Work Here (HBR Article)
Searching for Your Kind of Workplace
Research & References of Searching for Your Kind of Workplace|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
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