• Home
  • Coaching
    • Executive Coaching
    • Team Coaching
    • Communication Coaching
  • Programs
  • Coaches
  • Testimonials
  • Self-help Books
  • Blog
  • Contact / FAQ's
The Coaching Group of Switzerland
  • Home
  • Coaching
    • Executive Coaching
    • Team Coaching
    • Communication Coaching
  • Programs
  • Coaches
  • Testimonials
  • Self-help Books
  • Blog
  • Contact / FAQ's

Coaching Blog
The Coaching Group Of Switzerland

How To Figure Out If You Are In The Wrong Job - Fastcompany

14/6/2018

0 Comments

 
BY STEPHANIE VOZZA - 4 MINUTE READ

​
Ever have to psych yourself up to go to work? If that’s the case more often than not, your job might not align with your personal motives, says Carter Cast, author of The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made and Unmade.
​

Strengths are your natural skillsets, and motives are the place from which you draw energy, says Cast. They differ from values, which are what’s important to you. “If you ask someone what their values are, they can rattle them off quickly,” he says. “Motives are much harder to identify because we’re often not conscious of them. They’re the river that flows under us.”
A mismatch in job and motives will wear you down and eventually cause you to fail to live up to your potential, says Cast. “Currently, the assumption is that if you took this job, it’s the right job for you,” says Cast. “But people who are smart, don’t have a skill gap, and are good interpersonally will underperform if they don’t have energy for position.”
While employers often assess and measure for competency and strengths, they most likely don’t assess how energized you are by the job. Understanding your motives falls on employees, who need to determine if the job fits, says Cast. Based on the work of Hay Group and Harvard psychologist David McClelland, he identified five common motives, and how they impact the type of job you should seek:

ACHIEVEMENT
Achievement is the need to constantly improve your performance and accomplish goals that are meaningful to you. If you’re highly motivated by achievement, you prefer working in environments with clear performance indicators and tangible progress that can be seen on an ongoing basis, says Cast. You seek feedback in order to improve and advance, and set clear goals, organizing your work effort and measuring your progress.

AFFILIATION
Affiliation is a need for maintaining close, friendly relationships with others, such as in team situations. If you’re highly motivated by affiliation, you’re a team player who is a good listener and sensitive to perspectives of others. You enjoy building team spirit to accomplish goals. Your boss often considers you to be a good barometer for the cultural climate of the team or department and utilizes your inclusive nature to further develop the team’s sense of fellowship.

POWER
Power involves the need to have influence over others. It can be expressed personally or institutionally. People oriented toward personal power generally seek status and recognition and try to control others, while those with an institutional power drive try to organize the efforts of a team to further the company’s goals. At your best, the power motive pushes you to empower others and move toward accomplishing group goals.

AUTONOMY
Autonomy is the need to control your own work and determine its direction. You prefer having discretion over the task you do, the time you do it, the methods you use, and the team with which you work. Having a motive of autonomy doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll do everything yourself; it can simply mean that you can are able to structure your work.

PURPOSE
Purpose is the need to do work that is tied to a higher cause. You choose organizations and assignments that connect your work to social good that aligns with an important personal value. You are drawn to a place where the purpose is bigger than the product, a place that uses its resources and profits to offer assistance to those in need.

MAKE SURE YOUR MOTIVES MATCH YOUR JOB
To find a good match, list a job’s activities. Give each a green, yellow, or red light–green meaning you enjoy doing it, red meaning you don’t, and yellow meaning you’re ambivalent. Be deliberate and reflective. If you give 70% a green light, 20% a yellow, and 10% a red, the job is a match to your motives, says Cast. Your job should be aligned with your motive structure.

You will likely have more than one motive. Successful management consultants, for example, are typically high in the achievement and power motives and lower in the affiliation motive. Entrepreneurial founders usually have a high achievement motive, and are often motivated by a sense of purpose, as well, says Cast.
Cast suffered his own personal mismatch when he was tapped to be the CEO of Walmart.com. “My interest has always been being a good marketer, and I love to be close to the product,” he says. “The job was offered to me because my boss thought I had leadership qualities. My motives, however, are high on achievement and high on autonomy.”
An important component to being a CEO is having a high power motive, and Cast says that’s a motive where he’s low. “You have to be able to influence other people and wield that power to cajole people into doing what you needed then to do,” he says.
While Cast performed his duties, he was exhausted all of the time. “In hindsight I realized that just because you can do a job doesn’t mean you should do a job,” he says. “I bought into the progression of my career; it seemed like the next logical step to grab the brass ring.”

By better understanding your drives and motives, you can work your way into positions that match your inherent needs, says Cast. “When you find those positions, the chances are good that you’ll perform well,” he says.
​

Book a Session with one of our expert coaches
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog Home

    ​Self-Help Book / Personal Development
    by Suzie Doscher
    3
    rd Edition

    Picture
    Buy your book at Amazon
    BALANCE - offers you support  in life's difficult moments. 
    This book is about change and finding balance in life. Full of self-coaching exercises to help you learn and grow.

    Available in Paperback and Kindle at Amazon stores worldwide
    Audiobook narrated by Suzie Doscher on Amazon, Audible or iTunes

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Balance
    Business Coach In Lausanne
    Business Coach Zurich
    Coaching
    Coaching In Lausanne
    Coaching In Zurich
    Coaching Switzerland
    Coaching Switzerlandd
    Communication
    Core Values
    Covid 19
    Covid- 19
    Davide Costella
    Effectiveness
    Emotional Intelligence
    Empowerment
    Executive Coach
    Executive Coaching In Zurich
    Happiness
    Joy
    Leadership
    Life Coaching
    Life Coach Zurich
    Mindfulness
    Motivation
    Networking
    Neuroscience
    New Years Resolutions 2019
    Organizational Culture
    Other
    Pandemic
    Personal Development
    Seb Jauslin
    Start Ups
    Staying Focused
    Susan Begeman Steiner
    Suzie Doscher
    Team Coaching
    Virtual Coaching

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013

Contact info:


Suzie Doscher
Executive Coach for Self Development
​ 
​
Email Suzie
​Phone: + 41 43 443 59 54
www.suziedoscher.com
Linktree
Susan Begeman Steiner
Executive Coach
Team Coaching / Team Facilitation

​Email Susan
​Phone: + 41 78 798 83 99
www.sbsteinercoaching.com
Davide Costella
Communication Coaching
​NLP Coach

Email Davide
​Phone: +41 76 358 37 28
www.davidecostella.com
Seb Jauslin
Executive Coach for Daring Leaders and Lawyers 

​Email Seb
Phone: +41 76 202 01 13
​www.sebjauslin.com
Linktree

  • Home
  • Coaching
    • Executive Coaching
    • Team Coaching
    • Communication Coaching
  • Programs
  • Coaches
  • Testimonials
  • Self-help Books
  • Blog
  • Contact / FAQ's