Job Satisfaction May Be What You Create
Monday is the drag yourself to work day, Wednesday there is a glimmer of hope, and Friday is the day many wait for anxiously. Does this sound like you or someone on your team? Is job satisfaction something that each person can create?
Why We Work
There are of course, people who only want to work for one reason. By choice or by submission to the years of drudgery, they are paycheck only employees. Certainly though, there are those who are enthusiastic and career minded.
For the career minded, one of the most popular ways to create your career is to predict it. You graduate from high school. You make a decision about college or no college. Observations of family and friends occur. Then you listen to guidance from teachers, elders, and those who want to sell you a path.
That isn’t all though, you make a choice to make an investment. Usually connected to time, money, and amount of effort, what you are really hoping to do is get the prediction correct. What you see for the future and the place that you want to be is a prediction.
There is a sizable lot that does this, and does it effectively. When you look around though, you are really making a prediction. The best prediction of all may be that predicting your future is unlikely.
Career Changes and Job Descriptions
Millions of people make career changes. The factory closes, the technology shifts, or the difference between a paycheck and career start to sink in. Predicting your future or your job satisfaction is difficult, but creating a better outlook for your future may be something you can control.
When I work with small businesses, the percentage of those who have job descriptions for all employees is something less than fifty percent. If you were to add in the relevance of the work performed as compared with what is on the job description you would find an even deeper discrepancy in accuracy.
Employees can get nervous about their job description. Often they shudder with the thought that they will be targeted for poor performance or that the description will list a task or duty that they find undesirable. Sometimes this may happen and in other cases, it is simply a negative fantasy.
Job Satisfaction
Instead, what if your job description is considered an opportunity? Imagine if the job description has the possibility to be co-created. When the supervisor asks you to create a list of your duties as you see them, is that a problem or an opportunity?
The best path for your job satisfaction may not be in predicting the future. Perhaps the best path is to create it.
You may not be able to create one hundred percent of it. In fact, complete creation is unlikely. However, every chunk, every point, and every opportunity you have to steer, will make a difference across time.
Job satisfaction is not an image or comparison, for many positions, it is what you create.
– DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
