Let’s have a chat about Career Values in this podcast episode where you’ll also have a chance to listen to my interview on Hope Radio 103.2FM with Laura Bennett and Duncan Robinson. We discuss why values are so important to us. I’m always talking about the importance of values, as I honestly believe that you can’t make good career decisions without understanding what makes you tick.
My clients going through career change so often express frustration or dissatisfaction with their previous employers for a multitude of reasons and when we distil all the frustrations it’s often due to a mismatch of values and some of their top values just weren’t met.
Our values represent our deepest beliefs and guide us through our everyday life. Our values shape our opinions and our dreams. Our values are deeply embedded in our minds and spirits.
If you know which values are the most important to use, we can find a way to increase our life and career satisfaction. And, if we don’t know which ones are important to us, we’ll suffer a lot of physical, mental and emotional stress.
Take a listen to this 3-minute interview on Hope Radio embedded in this episode and then we’ll talk about some research by the well-known American researcher, John Di Martini who is a best-selling author and international speaker in human behavior
Let’s now consider some research in the importance of values by John Di Martini.
Everyone has a set of values, things that are most important to them, and we are able to discern what those values might be by the way they behave at work and at play.
John Di Martini has said that Values are like fingerprints: no two people have the same set of values and no one’s values are right or wrong.
When it comes to career management, you need to understand your true values AND you need to understand the values of the organisation, the department, and the manager, where you are interviewing before deciding whether or not you will take the job. If there is a misalignment of values then there is the danger that over time you will find that you will not be satisfied in that environment.
Di Martini conducted over 42 years of research into human behaviour, and developed the Demartini Value Determination Process which is a series of 13 questions that reveals what you truly value.
- What do you fill your space with (home and office)?
- How do you spend your time?
- What energises you the most?
- What do you spend your money on?
- Where are you most organised?
- Where are you most disciplined and reliable?
- What do you think about or focus on most?
- What do you envision or dream about most?
- What do you internally dialogue about most?
- What do you externally dialogue about most?
- What are you inspired about most?
- What do you set goals towards most?
- What do you love to study or read about most?
Give three answers for each, and you will see a pattern forming.
Distil your answers to find out what came up most, second most, third most and so on until you have compiled a hierarchy of about three to seven values.
What we perceive to be missing from our lives gives rise to our values.
Analyse what you value and you will see it is what you most perceive missing, or out of order, in your life.
For example, if you perceive you are missing money, then building wealth will appear high up on your values.
If you’re trying to decide what job best suits you, understanding what you value provides the clue to the type of work that will provide you an inspired and fulfilled life.
In my book, Navigating Career Crossroads, there is an in-depth assessment to identify your values and to rank them in order of importance. Then you can identify which values are currently being met in your personal life and in your professional life.
You will also identify what’s missing. Once you know what’s missing, that’s when you can start to take action to fulfil you values that are crying out to be met.
I’d love to be able to help you to find and follow your true passion and direction so feel free to book in for a complimentary chat about your needs. Just go to janejacksoncoach.com and click on the ‘book an appointment’ link. Even though I’m based in Sydney, Australia, wherever you are in the world, Zoom meetings or Skype make it possible for us to work face to face!
Until next time,
Believe in yourself and create magic!
Follow me on Twitter: @janecareercoach
If you need help in your career, book in for an exploratory conversation and see how I can help you
