5. identify your preferences
What does the process of pursuing your passion look like? What’s the next step down that path?
The good news is that it’s not nearly as nebulous as you might think. Our research has shown that there is a clear link between understanding what you love and identifying tangible elements of the work environment that would be best for you.
out of the starting gate
Imagine that you’re in the job market, with offers in hand from three firms. All three are attractive—the type of opportunities you’ve been looking for, with competitive compensation packages. You decide to meet with each firm one more time, specifically to talk about what your entry experience might be like—what to expect in your first six months on the job. Here’s what representatives from the three companies say. Which job will you take?
Company A: Probation and a Team Voting Approach
Actually, your first month will be a probationary period in which you’ll get to know and work closely with your assigned teammates. They’ll see how well you work with the group and contribute to its success. At the end of that period, your teammates—your peers—will vote on whether or not you will get to stay in the organization.
Company B: Fishbowl Challenge Approach
We can’t tell you what your exact role will be or who you’ll be working with. For the first three months, you’ll be in our “fishbowl,” performing a series of weekly challenges, perhaps designing new products or marketing campaigns, under the close scrutiny of our CEO and other senior executives. At the end of the time, depending on what we observe, we’ll help you find the right position for your skills.
Company C: Training and Apprentice Approach
Your first three months will be spent learning our way of doing business. We have a specific way of operating, and we expect you to follow our processes closely. We’re convinced that the ways we’ve outlined are the most productive and successful. After an extensive training program, you’ll get a chance to apprentice with one of our strongest performers.
If you’re like most people, these three ways of starting work at a new company are not equally appealing. In fact, I suspect most of you would probably have a distinct preference for one over the others.
If social relationships at work are important to you, if teamwork is something you enjoy and believe you excel at, then the first offer would probably sound good. The entry process certainly drives home the point that this is a company that puts a high priority on team behavior.
If you love the challenge of creating new things and see work as a platform to express yourself, and if you have a high tolerance for ambiguity, then the second company might be for you. Again, the entry process sets a clear tone—intense challenge, high visibility, and a chance to show what you can do.
If clearly specified tasks are important to you, and if you want a well-defined path to succeed at work, then the third company probably sounds like a dream come true. Clearly the management has thought about how to do well and is prepared to invest significant time and resources in helping you learn the ropes.
Getting it right—finding a work environment that matches your personality and preferences—is key to your ultimate enjoyment of your work. In the end, the role you will be asked to play and the characteristics of the workplace need to be in line with the role you’re prepared to play and the environment you enjoy. By choosing the company that is best suited to your needs and preferences, you increase the chances you will find yourself in a place that matches your passions, one in which you will be highly engaged in your work.
moving down the path toward your ideal job
Let’s take the second step in finding work you will love and that will work for you. Keeping in mind the situations you identified in chapter 4, those in which you felt highly engaged or passionate, the next step is to identify the practical characteristics of your ideal relationship with work and the pragmatic clues that will help you find it. Our research has shown that there is a high correlation between certain types of passion—certain life lures—and specific, identifiable elements of the work environment. For example, someone with a passion for creating unique items with lasting value—let’s say by designing buildings or writing books—is much more likely to prefer flexible schedules and independence than someone whose passion is leading teams successfully into competition.
My colleagues’ and my research has identified six archetypes of work-related passions and preferred relationships with work.1 They describe the six roles that work plays in our lives and represent six life lures.
- ✓ Expressive legacy: Work is about creating something of lasting value.
- ✓ Secure progress: Work is about predictable upward mobility—a secure path to success.
- ✓ Individual expertise and team victory: Work is an opportunity to contribute, to be a valuable part of a winning team.
- ✓ Risk with reward: Work is an opportunity for challenge, change, learning, and, maybe, wealth.
- ✓ Flexible support: Work is a livelihood but not currently a priority.
- ✓ Limited obligations: Work’s value is largely its near-term economic gain.
Take the ten-question assessment in table 5-1. Which of the statements in each row of the assessment do you identify with most closely? Once you’ve completed the assessment, turn to table 5-2 at the end of the chapter to see which lure is most important to you.
Once you have your results, the following descriptions of each lure will help you identify the observable criteria you should use as you evaluate your work options.
Note that some of the criteria apply to the nature of the tasks you would perform, and others apply to the work environment—the type of organization you would be a part of, the management style of the boss, and so on. You’ll find that organizations differ widely in important components of the work experience, often even within an industry. For example, some companies have risk-based compensation (options, bonuses), whereas others have predictable cost-of-living-based salary structures. Some organizations set up highly flexible, self-scheduling work groups; others take an intense “all hands on deck” approach most of the time. Some reflect an underlying philosophy of paternalism; others operate with a virtually contractor-like, hands-off attitude. Your criteria should encompass the nature of both the work and the workplace.
expressive legacy
Individuals who identify closely with this archetype tend to have the following characteristics:
- ✓ They care about building something of lasting value.
- ✓ They are entrepreneurial, hardworking, creative, well educated, and self-motivated.
- ✓ They consider themselves leaders and love to assume responsibility.
- ✓ They are the most likely to define success as being true to themselves.
- ✓ They say they will never retire.
- ✓ They place less value on traditional rewards—such as compensation, vacation time, or even a better benefits package—than many others do.
- ✓ They are looking for work that continues to empower and stimulate them, enables them to continue to learn and grow, and has a greater social purpose.
If you share the values of this archetype, use the following criteria to judge your future work possibilities. Consider each of your options in terms of the degree to which it offers the following:
- ✓ Individual latitude; the ability to be your own boss
- ✓ The requirement to be creative in order to succeed
- ✓ Ongoing opportunities to learn and grow, ideally through continual exposure to bright colleagues, stimulating ideas, and leading-edge issues
- ✓ The opportunity for your work to have a lasting impact on someone or something
Examples of the type of work that is often engaging for individuals in this archetype include architecture (creating something of lasting value), construction (individual latitude), professional services (stimulating work), and a wide variety of the arts. Attractive work environments include self-employment and entrepreneurial start-ups.
Companies that want to attract and retain people who place a high priority on the nature of the work itself—on creating something of lasting value—often do things that strongly reflect the company’s heritage, values, and ambitions in unique and memorable ways. Bright Horizons, a provider of employersponsored child care, uses a high-touch recruiting process that emphasizes the lasting impact an early childhood educator can have on young lives. A walk through Xilinx’s hall of patents or past the mural depicting the founders’ early vision for programmable logic devices leaves any visitor with a sense of the firm’s grand ambition. Look for these kinds of signals if expressive legacy describes you.
secure progress
Individuals in this archetype have the following characteristics:
- ✓ They seek upward mobility—a steady, predictable path to success.
- ✓ They pride themselves on being highly reliable and loyal workers.
- ✓ They value fair, traditional rewards, including concrete compensation, good benefits, and a solid, predictable retirement package.
- ✓ They are uncomfortable with risky or highly variable compensation, including stock and bonuses.
- ✓ They like to work hard.
- ✓ They place high value on their family.
- ✓ They have less interest in “softer” work benefits such as stimulating work, enjoyable workplaces, work that is worthwhile to society, or flexible work arrangements.
- ✓ They seek stable and secure environments and tend to have long tenures with one employer.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer the following:
- ✓ Fair, predictable rewards
- ✓ Concrete compensation, benefits, and a solid retirement package
- ✓ Stable, secure work environments; for example, investigate the company’s financial history and business outlook
- ✓ Work that features structure and routine
- ✓ Career-related training
Examples of careers that are often engaging for individuals in this archetype include those in education, health care, government, manufacturing, and transportation. Look in particular for firms that can offer a predictable, upward path to success and economic security (and note that many simply can’t make this promise). Be alert to evidence that the company is committed to employees’ long-term security; for example, ExxonMobil made the decision to stick with defined benefit pension plans several years ago, recognizing the importance of security in the firm’s employee experience. The Container Store’s investment in training—more than five times the industry average—and clearly articulated progressions emphasize its strong commitment to structured career development.
individual expertise and team victory
Individuals in this archetype have the following characteristics:
- ✓ They enjoy being part of a winning team and seek an atmosphere that is cooperative.
- ✓ They care deeply about being highly competent at the work they do and contributing to the organization’s success.
- ✓ They take pride in their work and are willing to put in extra effort.
- ✓ They are loyal, hardworking, reliable, capable, and typically very experienced.
- ✓ They place less value than most others do on individual rewards such as more money or vacation, and they express less need for flexible work arrangements.
- ✓ They place strong emphasis on work that is personally stimulating, work environments that are congenial and fun, colleagues who cooperate, and employers who provide stability and job security.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer the following:
- ✓ Work that involves teaming with others
- ✓ Workplaces that value fun
- ✓ Work approaches that are designed for collaboration
- ✓ Stable, well-organized, and well-run environments
- ✓ Competent colleagues
- ✓ Work that leverages and builds your existing personal strengths
The particular industry is less important to individuals in this archetype than is finding a team-based work environment. Many seek managerial roles.
If you want to work in a team-based environment, look for specific practices within the firm that require or support team-based behavior. The Royal Bank of Scotland is well known for its every-morning management meetings, in which goals for the day are set collaboratively by the top executives. Whole Foods’ hiring and compensation processes are team-based; candidates are on probation until the team votes that they may be hired full-time.
risk with reward
Individuals in this archetype have the following characteristics:
- ✓ They seek lives filled with change and adventure, and they see work as one of multiple opportunities to experience a thrill.
- ✓ They tend to be well educated and have a strong preference for working with other bright people.
- ✓ They thrive on exciting work.
- ✓ They enjoy assuming positions of responsibility.
- ✓ They are driven by variety and opportunities for growth.
- ✓ They want to do work that is inherently worthwhile.
- ✓ They pioneer new ways of working.
- ✓ They are the most likely to want flexible workplaces and schedules that enable them to work on their own terms and pursue their own interests.
- ✓ They are confident in their abilities and are the most likely to seek out bonus compensation and stock as rewards for their accomplishments.
- ✓ They own their careers and actively explore their career options; their tenures with employers on average are brief.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer the following:
- ✓ Opportunities for personal financial upside—bonuses and stock
- ✓ Flexible workplaces and schedules based on your own terms
- ✓ Opportunities to choose assignments from a wide menu of options
- ✓ Opportunities to change tasks frequently
- ✓ Open-ended tasks and approaches
- ✓ Frequent exposure to other bright people and recognized thought leaders
Examples of work environments that can be engaging for individuals who fit the risk with reward archetype include those in information technology, investment banking, and professional services. Many of these individuals are frequently happiest working for smaller organizations or being self-employed.
Look for firms that clearly signal a commitment to challenge, change, learning, and the possibility of wealth, at every turn. Trilogy, a software firm, uses a highly challenging orientation process to create this culture from the start.
flexible support
Individuals in this archetype have the following characteristics:
- ✓ They see work as a source of livelihood but not currently a primary focus in their lives.
- ✓ They are typically pursuing interests and priorities outside work and are trying to create balance in their lives—personally, financially, and emotionally.
- ✓ They are looking for employers that can make it a little easier to cope—for example, by offering a flexible menu of benefit options that fit their specific needs.
- ✓ They value environments that are congenial and fun.
- ✓ They tend to view their nonwork activities as temporary and think they may want to devote more time and energy to their work in the future, but for now are seeking roles at work that will enable them to have control of both their careers and their lives.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer the following:
- ✓ Highly flexible work arrangements, including, to the extent possible, options for self-scheduling
- ✓ Generous vacation or options for leave
- ✓ Flexible benefit programs, preferably in a cafeteria-style offering that allows choice among child care, elder care, and other options based on your specific needs
- ✓ Work with well-defined routines—the ability to “plug in” and out again with ease
- ✓ Work that can be done virtually and does not require direct personal interaction
- ✓ Work environments that are congenial, empathic, and fun
Examples of work environments that are often engaging for individuals in this archetype include backroom work in financial services and leisure and hospitality, because both often offer the scheduling options this group desires. Look for human resource practices that emphasize an organization’s flexibility and empathy. JetBlue’s system for its reservation agents allows them to work at home and self-schedule within their work group, an example of competing for talent on the basis of maximum flexibility.
limited obligations
Individuals who fit the limited obligations profile have the following characteristics (and given these characteristics, chances are they’re probably not reading this book!):
- ✓ They see the value of work largely in terms of near-term economic gain.
- ✓ They prefer work that makes minimal demands on their time.
- ✓ They place high value on traditional compensation and benefits packages.
- ✓ They express less interest than other segments in work that is enjoyable, personally stimulating, or worthwhile to society.
If you share the values of this archetype, look for opportunities that offer the following:
- ✓ Low barriers to entry—hiring processes that are quick and easy, and jobs that are relatively easy to come by and learn
- ✓ Work that has well-defined routines
- ✓ Traditional compensation and lucrative benefits packages
- ✓ Stability and security
- ✓ Opportunities for periodic recognition
Examples of work environments that might be best suited to individuals in this archetype, largely because the positions have low barriers to entry, include retail, wholesale, and transportation.
. . . . .
The criteria associated with your life lure should be part of your reflections as you evaluate work opportunities. They will help you increase the odds of finding a career where you can really plug in.
In summary, these criteria ask you to consider four different aspects of each opportunity—what I call the “four C’s”:
- ✓ Content: The nature of the task itself—whether it’s well defined or ambiguous, done at a pace that is fast or leisurely, requires a high degree of team interaction or can be done individually, and so on
- ✓ Compensation: What you want, broadly, in return—the mix of salary, benefits, deferred compensation, learning opportunities, satisfaction from giving back, pleasure from social networks, or other benefits that you value most from work
- ✓ Connection: How you want to interact with the company—for example, whether as an employee or in a freelance relationship, with a lot or a little management oversight, with frequent feedback or more formal reviews, or in a management style that is hierarchical or participative
- ✓ Communication: The core values you care about and want to share with the organization and its leaders
As you think about what you want to do next, it’s important to think about these preferences. If you don’t get this right, no matter how much you intellectually like the idea of the work, you almost certainly won’t be engaged. If you took the selfassessment in table 5-1, check out table 5-2, which identifies your life lures based on the answers you gave.
In the next chapter, I talk about some of the places where you might be most likely to find your ideal work and work environment—and how those places are changing.
| Your life lures | |
|---|---|
| Column A | Expressive legacy: Work is about creating something of lasting value. |
| Column B | Secure progress: Work is about upward mobility, a predictable, upward path to success. |
| Column C | Individual expertise and team victory: Work is an opportunity to be a contributing member of a winning team. |
| Column D | Risk with reward: Work is an opportunity for challenge, change, learning, and, maybe, wealth. |
| Column E | Flexible support: Work generates a livelihood but not currently a life priority. |
| Column F | Limited obligations: Work’s value is largely its near-term economic gain. |
AQ:
Source?