11/01/2011

Navigate Your Career: Taking Responsibility for Your Own Job Satisfaction

By B. Lynn Ware

Maybe you feel that your employer does not care about your career growth due to the lackluster economy and perceived high unemployment rate. Maybe you feel that there are no good job opportunities out there, so why bother looking? Maybe you feel that you need to stay where you are and just deal with it.

 

Whatever the feelings, as a global employee engagement and retention expert for fifteen years, I am here to tell you that employers DO CARE….in fact, they care very much.

 

Since the mid 90’s, the focus on retaining competent and talented employees has been increasingly on the radar screen for most executives. In addition, awareness about the cost of turnover has skyrocketed. Executives know that if you leave they will pay more than your current cost to replace you. Even more important, they will lose valuable time in meeting company goals and increasing their market share.

 

While unemployment overall is high, for those with bachelor’s and advanced degrees, U.S. unemployment is still significantly below 5% (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Employers know that replacing a skilled worker, especially in fields such as technology and health care, is not as easy as it seems when reading the daily headlines.

 

So if you are dissatisfied with your job and are wishing you could make a change, consider the following. Don’t you have a huge time and emotional investment in your current job and your organization? Think back to before you started this job:

 

When you think about the resources and energy you spend getting competent and feeling comfortable at work, it is a huge investment. So before you take a walk, consider your job as a financial investment. Consider:

 

If you are even a bit unsure or wavering in your evaluation, why not take an additional step before you walk and request a conversation with your manager about your job situation?

 

Many companies today have provided training for their managers on how to have a career conversation with their direct reports. If your manager has not done that with you, insure your own investment by taking charge and requesting the meeting yourself.

 

Here’s how to prepare:

Step 1: Pinpoint the top three reasons for your current job dissatisfaction.

Time is short for most of us these days. If you are going to request time from your manager, make sure you can articulate what is most important to you. No one wants to hear a laundry list of complaints. Come up with the items that would solve 80% of your dissatisfaction. Here is a checklist of job factors to help with your assessment of what is bothering you the most.

 

Individual and Managerial

Organizational

 

Step Two: Ask for the appointment.

During one recent training session, we spent 45 minutes with the participants planning how to request time for this discussion with their managers. Why did it take so long? Many of the participants had the following concerns:

“My manager is always so busy. She probably doesn’t have time for this discussion right now.”

“I don’t want to sound negative about my job. Maybe they’ll put me on the layoff list”.

“My company is having financial problems. They aren’t going to do anything special for me right now anyway.”

 

If you have any of these concerns, or others, the consequences of your current dissatisfaction will eventually be felt much harder by your manager. He or she will feel it in the lack of discretionary effort you feel motivated to put forth or worse, such as when you tell your boss that you have taken another job. It’s best to attempt to improve your current situation now.

 

Step Three: How to Have the Conversation with your Manager.

 

Once you have the appointment, take the time in advance to sketch out and jot down what you will actually say to your manager by following these key guideposts:

  1. Start with the positive. Describe the factors of your current work situation that are most satisfying for you.

  2. Then list the top three factors that are not in alignment with your personal needs and goals (from your prior assessment), and share your ideas about how to improve them. Highlight the benefits to your manager of improving your job satisfaction.

  3. Ask for your manager’s reactions to your ideas and ask for his/her ideas.

  4. Listen and openly discuss both of your ideas.

  5. Agree upon at least one of two short and long term actions both of you will take.

  6. Set a follow-up date to review progress on the agreed upon actions.

 

By taking time to discuss what is bothering you at work, you have the possibility of creating a mutually beneficial relationship. If you start to feel motivated and energized again in your job as a result of changes that were made, it is likely that you will voluntarily increase both the quality and quantity of your work. In addition, you will stay with the company longer, thereby reducing the cost of turnover for the company, allowing your manager and team to achieve business goals and you will get a better return on your investment of already allocated time and energy.

 


 

 

B Lynn WareB. Lynn Ware, Ph.D., is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist and the founder and President of Integral Talent Systems, Inc. (ITS), a technology enabled global talent management consulting firm that has been in business since 1992. ITS is based in the heart of Silicon Valley in Mountain View, CA. ITS offers research based state of the art tools, products and services for organizations who want to leverage the productivity of their human capital by implementing innovative systems and practices for attracting, developing, engaging and retaining top talent.

Dr. Ware has been a key consultant in the human resources community for over 30 years. Her specialty is in developing systems and processes for how to leverage human capital for the benefit of achieving extraordinary business results. She can be reached at 650.965.1806 or by email at drware@itsinc.net

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1 Comment

Charles Healy   on Thursday 11/10/2011 at 01:24 PM

Good advice. In approaching manager, one might use a sandwich. Positive aspects of job for you and manager, then what could be improved for you and the benefits for both of you, then close with more positives.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the comments shown above are those of the individual comment authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of this organization.