Are you motivated and effective at your current job, but recognizing that it is getting a bit stale? Are you bored with the job you currently have? Have you mastered the tasks such that they are nearly automatic? Are you less motivated to do your best than you once were? Are you handcuffed by the salary and health insurance?
A good job should help you stretch and grow, and develop additional skills. One of the best ways to remain motivated, productive, and engaged in your work is to be doing work that makes the best use of your talents and abilities.
All too often, supervisors fail to recognize special skills and talents and need to be prodded or reminded. You may need to speak up during a review meeting to indicate that you’d appreciate having more challenging work to do. You can also do a bit of reconnaisance to kick start a conversation in that direction.
Mark is a productive and conscientious mid-level employee in a company that sells its product only on a wholesale basis. It has a few excellent outlets, and some long term contracts, as well.
Mark knows that one major contract will expire soon, and with the tightening of the economy, realizes that any new contracts may well be signed for reduced quantities. In order to maintain current production levels, and especially to grow, Mark also realizes that new markets will be necessary.
When Mark travels, he uses his own time to explore additional outlets for his employer’s products. He recently discovered two areas that might help the business grow into a higher-end niche, and plans to ask for a change in his current duties to allow him to do some outside sales. He feels his experience in ensuring product quality at time of shipment will help him reach potential customers with a knowledge of exactly what his company is prepared to deliver. I am sure he will be successful at expanding his job and helping his employer’s bottom line!
- What do you see as you successfully complete your own tasks that could enhance the reach, scope, or effectiveness of your organization?
- What other areas would you like to learn more about?
- Is there an opportunity for you to shadow someone else at work to see if that is an area you’d like to move into in the future?
- Are you already doing your best and wanting to do better?
Take some time to explore the possibilities that may be right in your own back yard before you commit to going elsewhere. You may be surprised by what is right under your nose!
Know Yourself Before You Take a New Job
Attitude is everything: Do you remember the singing toll collector? Somewhere in metropolitan New York, a man who collected tolls for a living sang to those who came through his tollbooth, and commuters tried to get to his line so they could be entertained on their ride home or to work. On the other hand, some tollbooth operators are downright surly, and obviously hate their jobs! Same job, different people….
Customer service reps offer even more telling glimpses into job satisfaction and ability to deal with differences in people. Some who work in IT should be writing code in their cubicles and not answering the phone to help end users.
Each of us is different, and what may be perfect for me might be the worst job ever for you! If only we could know that in advance!
Bob worked in an internal distribution center in a large organization. He delivered materials to individual internal customers in various buildings on a daily basis. When he saw a next-level position open up, he decided to apply for it and asked for help with his resume and application.
During the resume review, conversation touched on the job he was leaving, and what, exactly, he most liked about it. Bob enjoyed the one-on-one contact with the individuals he saw on a daily basis, and realized that the new position would have limited contact with others, since he’d be delivering his product by truck to a loading dock instead of to twenty or thirty people at their desks.
Bob decided that having work he liked and intereaction with end users outweighed the small salary increase and the next-level position, and he decided not to apply for the new job after all!
Spend some time in reflecting about just what constitues satisfying work for you. Make a list of what you need, and what you want. Be sure to include those things you have now, that are important, even if they are things you seldom think about because you already have them!