In honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s talk about love.  Not romantic love – that would be a different blog!  Rather, employment love.  Specifically, love for what you do – your role, your work, or your vocation.  You know, the job that you attend to either in person or virtually 40+ hours a week to earn a living.  How wonderful to create a living worthwhile by loving the way you earn a living!

Personally, I love my job.  Every day is different; filled with new and interesting challenges and great people.  I have the opportunity daily to learn and grow both personally and professionally.  Sadly, this has not always been the case.  As a coach, it certainly is not always the case for some of my clients.

I recently started working with a client and we were discussing employee engagement.  Researching the latest Gallup Poll statistics, I was interested to read that 32% of US employees are engaged in and by what they do for a living.  However, that leaves 68% Disengaged or Actively Disengaged.  That statistic kind of stinks.  As a person who loves her job, I started to think, “What is it that helps me to feel the way I do?”  I came up with the following.

  1. Explore – Find out What you love to do! Is it solving problems? Innovating with technology, DNA, or medicine? Defending the law?  Providing services to the community? Is it working with people? I really asked myself what do I really love to do. It took some time to sort it out, but you have to ask yourself that question, explore, commit and evolve.
  2. Passion – Each assignment I receive, task I perform, challenge I tackle all leads to one thing – helping people perform to the best of their abilities. The objective of my work aligns with my core value to be of service to others.  Marry these two and – oila! – passion is sparked.  The key is that I realized and became aware of my true calling and married that into a profession.
  3. Engagement – When you can see you’re adding value, developing through challenging work, and have a passion for the company, its vision and the people/your colleagues – trust me – you will feel engaged.
  4. Confidence and Curiosity – I am confident in my abilities as a coach and leadership facilitator. And, curious about different approaches, tools and techniques.  The desire to share what I know and remain open to learning new things, has a positive effect on my authenticity as a coach and colleague.

Reflecting on the above, it may not be love at first sight.  You may need to actively explore ways to strengthen your confidence, ignite your passion, and feel actively engaged in your role, job, how you earn a living.   If you are interested in your own career exploration, we should talk.  At MCG Partners we work with individuals and companies to develop self-awareness through the Predictive Index®, Leadership Development and Coaching.  If you are interested in discussing these services, please contact Heather Wood [email protected].

About the Author: Heather Wood

About MCG Partners

MCG Partners a woman-owned, Greater Boston-based consultancy specializing in executive coaching, leadership development, talent management, and organizational development solutions. We help businesses optimize success through the entire management life-cycle. MCG Partners is also a Predictive Index® (PI®) certified partner.

To learn more about MCG Partners’ services or The Predictive Index®, contact John Griffith at [email protected] or visit mcgpartners.com.