When we spend enough time in an outcome focused role we will eventually come to a situation where we are faced with a quandary. “Should we do what is right or what will deliver results”. At the start of my career, I learned a valuable lesson when I was working in agency recruitment for a specialist scientific agency. My biggest competitor was getting a lot of sales that I was in the running for. I was getting feedback that I was better at building the relationship with the candidates than she was (that was my mission after being treated poorly by recruitment agencies whilst temping in London). However, I also knew that she put more effort into “wooing the client”. As such she was receiving more requests from the clients to fill jobs. At times I felt that I should just spend money on the clients invite them to corporate boxes and black-tie gala’s but I knew, at my core I did not want my success to be on the back of glorified bribery.
I originally decided to try my hand at recruitment so I could treat candidates better than I had been treated. It was not too long until those candidates moved up the ladder and were promoted into “clients” with memories of who treated them well and not so well when they were candidates. I started getting more jobs, filling more roles and being more successful than my competitor. The true game is the strong game and the game where people want to be in the team long term.
I was blessed to have discovered so early in my career that I was not going to compromise on my values. But not everyone is as clear in what their values are and why they should keep alignment. Working for a long time in a role that is not aligned with your values will likely lead to burn out regardless of the size of the pay cheque. When personal and work values are not aligned the result is employee dissatisfaction and business failure so it also becomes important to recognise when those around you are wrangling with some dissonance, to try and help them achieve alignment or at least recognise what is happening.
A simple brain dump of what motivates you, what makes you smile, what part of your job gives you satisfaction will serve you well. If spending time with family is high on your values and you are doing a role which keeps you away from them, that is not alignment. If you are working for a mining company and are a staunch environmentalist this is also difficult to reckon with. However if may be less obvious…..working for a leader who is reactive when you like to have time to organise your day can also do it.
Live and work according to your values to stay aligned and reduce the stress in your life. A values inventory and correlation to career aspirations is an integral component of career coaching.