"Do I love my job? What do I love about my job?"
These are the two questions I asked myself the other day when I saw the CEO of my company Sabine Mueller posting about this article from Harvard Business Review. If you ask me, I have to be honest and say that I have never associated the word "love" with my job or profession. Love is a strong word. We associate the word "love" with our family members, our pet, our partner, our hobby... but our job?
This article says: to attract and retain people, to have them going the extra mile without burning out, is to re-design work content in such a way that your employees love. It does not have to be 100%, only 20% is enough.
We shall ask ourselves these three questions:
Was I excited to work every day last week?
Did I have a chance to use my strengths every day?
At work do I get a chance to do what I’m good at and something I love?
This sounds great. But we know how hard it is to implement this.
Think about it: we don't have answers to some of the questions ourselves. How can we expect our managers and leaders to know and then make a conscious effort to design work that fulfills these expectations (in a world in which market condition is so cut-throat!)
While this article shared a few good practices some companies do, I wanted more answers about what we can do as an individual, as an employee, or as a manager (without working for Lululemon!).
This year marks my 10th year with DHL Consulting, my first job after graduation. I am a millennial. The average years of stay at my company are two years. So I must be doing something different than others. So what is it? Below, I am exploring some of these reasons.
I wanted that relocation. So I asked for it.
My company DHL Consulting had a small regional office in Singapore. I always wanted to go back to Asia. A big reason was also that my back in the day boyfriend (now husband) was still in Japan. Singapore was the perfect 3rd country for us to settle down. Right after I got the offer at the HQ in Germany, I immediately contacted the head of HR, to ask whether there is a chance to relocate. And to my surprise, they said yes, with the condition that I start in Germany for half a year to learn the basics. I ended up staying in Germany for 1.5 years and moved to the beautiful country of Singapore. The company took care of everything: the visa, the cost of relocation, and the first place to stay. After 8 years, I am still in Singapore, loving every bit of this place.
I chose responsibilities that sparked my interest and use my strength.
Since I was little, I have always been a big fan of Japan and its culture. That is why I started to learn Japanese at a young age and later even found a Japanese husband! But I know I did not want to work in Japan as I do not like the business culture. My ideal: I visit the country once in a while for work.
And that is what I did. I asked whether I can be responsible for business development for that market. I ended up visiting the country multiple times a year, fruitfully selling projects for my office and successfully executing many projects with my team. The business trips to Japan had been one of the best memories and times during my working time at my company.
I created a role that I am passionate about.
The business trips stopped due to COVID. I had been a manager for a few years and I got pregnant with my baby girl. Priority has shifted and it was time for a change. When I found my passion for coaching, I got really worried. Does this mean I need to quit my job to become an independent coach? How can I support my family in the meantime when collecting experience as well as growing my business? Then I realized: why don't create a role within my company and merge both worlds? Yes, no one has done this before. Yes, this has little to do with our main business so I need to demonstrate the benefits to the management and my fellow consultants. Yes, it will be difficult to juggle my main responsibility and this new role.
But I had confidence because I had the passion and I know I was in a company that would allow this to happen. About half a year after I started this journey, coaching and training is about 30% of my official role.
In all the examples above I notice one thing: there was love. If it hasn't been for love, I would not have been successful. I would not have enjoyed the work this much. I would have left the company.
I noticed: there was love. If it hasn't been for love, I would have left the company.
I manage to find and create love in my job. I am grateful all my supervisors, my company management and the teams who helped me along the way. Now, coming back to the article: yes, executives and managers can play a key part in making this a reality, but no one knows you better than you. We will need to ask ourselves questions that can translate into changes in our role and responsibilities:
What do you love? What are you excited about? What is your strength?
To introduce (more of) this into your job, what is needed?
How can your company benefit from (what you love and excited) about?
How can you communicate this benefit?
What or whose support do you need?
What do you need to do to get started?
I have been able to do it. I have confidence you can as well.
If you are wondering how to introduce your love into your work, and you think I can help, feel free to reach out.
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