This blog post is actually an addition to the last one in which I already encouraged you to explore your basic desires at work – aka your personal needs.
When I recently read Richard P. Finnegan’s “Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Bad“, I felt reassured that personal needs and desires are really important to drive our career satisfaction. Finnegan creates a link between Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the work environments where employees will stick rather than leave. He argues that the needs in the middle of the pyramid play the biggest role in this context.
The Basic Desires for Work are
- Safety – The need to be free from the effect of physical or emotional harm
- Social – The need to interact with others
- Esteem – The need to feel important
Later, he gives some examples of how first line managers as well as senior leaders can increase talent retention by consistently fulfilling those basic needs of their employees.
However, when I read this, I suddenly also recalled the famous “Gallup Q12“. Back in 2006, the Gallup Institute published a list of 12 statements. According to their research of more than 30 years these statements allow companies to measure the actionable issues for their management in relation to topics like satisfaction, loyalty, pride, engagement, and so on.
In other words, if they score low on these statements, they’re in trouble!
I suggest you read through the 12 statement first before we move on:
Gallup’s Q12
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
- My supervisor or someone at work seems to care about me as a person.
- There is someone at work who encourages my development.
- At work, my opinions seem to count.
- The mission/purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
- My associates (fellow employees) are committed to doing quality work.
- I have a best friend at work.
- In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
- This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
You see, also here we find a lot of similarity and a clear link to the basic needs famously published by Abraham Maslow.
Now go through them again and think about how each of the statements relates to your personal situation. Where would you see yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 for each of the statements?
If you – or let’s rather say your employer – scores high in the majority of cases, great! If not, the ones with the low rating might give you some clue where to start to improve your level of satisfaction and fulfillment at work. This is a great and pretty clear starting point to finally change what needs to be changed!
First, check what you can personally do to improve the situation. Maybe you need to talk openly to your manager, maybe you need to get out of your way and be more open to social contacts and get more involved with your peers. It might also help to talk to trusted colleagues to find out, if they feel the same way. After all, this is just another way to try and bring you closer to your desired career. If you don’t feel satisfied, take every opportunity to think about what’s missing and always remember it’s you who needs to take control and become active – else, nothing’s going to change!
Happy Galluping,
Gunnar
Photo: garron