So You Don't Like Your Job

I am very good at my job, but I don’t like it. I have no passion for it and dread going to work. Is this “just the way it is” for many people?

The goal of most of my Career Development activities is to get clients in touch with their natural strengths. A big realization for most clients is that one's natural strengths are not necessarily those things that one is good at. Or, rather, just because you're good at something doesn't mean it's an authentic strength. That's why, for example, you'll hear people say things like: "I'm really good at Accounting, but I don't enjoy it."  Many people get swept away early on in their careers; they get promoted and move up the ladder because they are good at something – most often what they went to school for. A majority of people I work with in my client companies and here in my own business have never had meaningful exposure to how they are wired – to what they are supposed to be doing in life.

For other clients, career development activities help in clarifying next career steps. These people are firmly in the right career pocket and have a handle on their strengths; they just need tools to help them lean even deeper into their strengths so that they can make a career move that lands them in even more fulfilling work.

For yet another group of clients, career development is about learning more about external factors. This includes uncovering organizational cultures and structures in which they can thrive. Oftentimes, this work also involves examining how others perceive you and how to help create the conditions for truly synergistic relationships within an organization.