What is and isn’t working, but more importantly why?

In the last edition of A Pause to Reflect, I wrote about growth, and how it can mean very different things from one person to another.

Another topic that has come up quite a lot in the career conversations I have had is a simple one: understanding what we actually like and don't like about our work. At first, that can seem quite straightforward. You might know that you are bored, that you have stopped learning, or that you enjoy some parts of your job but really don't enjoy others. You might even be able to make a pretty good list of what gives you energy and what drains it.

But I think that is often only the first layer.

Knowing what you like is only the start

The harder, and often more useful, question is why. Why do you enjoy one part of your work so much more than another? What is it about starting a new project that gives you energy? Why do you enjoy working with one type of team but struggle in another? Why might managing people feel interesting in one situation and draining in another?

This can change quite a lot about how we understand the problem. You might say, for example, that you love building things from scratch. The obvious conclusion could be: maybe I should join a start-up, or maybe I would enjoy being an entrepreneur.

But what is it that you actually like about building something from scratch? Maybe it is the novelty, solving problems, having a lot of freedom in how you approach something, or being able to see something move forward because of what you have done. None of those things necessarily requires working for a start-up.

The same can happen with things we don't enjoy. You might think: I don't like managing people. But is it actually managing people that you don't enjoy? Or is it spending your days in meetings, being further away from the actual work, dealing with internal politics, or having less time to solve problems yourself? You could dislike one version of management and really enjoy another.

Going a bit deeper

This is also where career reflection can start touching on something more personal. If you keep asking why you enjoy certain situations and struggle with others, you can start to see things about your personality, your values and what matters to you.

Maybe you need quite a lot of novelty and learning to stay interested. Maybe having freedom in how you work is really important to you. Maybe you need to see a clear result from what you are doing. Maybe you care a lot about the people around you and being part of a team. Or maybe stability and becoming really good at something matter much more to you than constantly doing something new.

There isn't a right answer here, and none of this tells you that you should become a consultant, an entrepreneur, a manager or anything else. But it can help explain why two people can do exactly the same job and experience it completely differently.

It is also why statements like “I am bored”, “I want to work for a smaller company”, “I don't want to manage” or “I want something more entrepreneurial” can hide quite a lot. They might all be true, but there is usually another question underneath them: what is it about that experience that I actually like or don't like?

Perhaps it isn't the role itself, but not feeling enough ownership over the end result. Perhaps it isn't the size of the company, but wanting to have more influence over what happens. Perhaps you aren't tired of technical work, but tired of doing similar technical work and not learning very much anymore.

That deeper reason is often much more useful than the original label.

Does the job need to change?

Once you understand the why a little better, you can start thinking about where else you could find the same things. If autonomy matters to you, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to become self-employed. If you need novelty, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to join a start-up. If you want more impact, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to move to a smaller company. There might be many different jobs and companies where you can find those things.

And sometimes you might not need to leave at all. Maybe what needs to change is the type of projects you work on, your level of responsibility, the team you work with, how much freedom you have, or how your time is split between different parts of the job.

Of course, sometimes those things can't really change. They are part of the role or the company, and moving somewhere else might be the answer. But understanding why something isn't working gives you a much better idea of what you are actually looking for. It can also help avoid moving to a new job and finding yourself with the same problem six months later, only in a different company.

Perhaps that is the deeper value of understanding what we like and don't like. Not simply creating a list of things to look for or avoid, but understanding why they matter to us, and then asking where else, or how else, we might find them.

A question to pause with

Think of one part of your work that you really enjoy, or really don't enjoy. What is it about that experience that makes you feel that way? And if you ask yourself why a couple more times, what does it tell you about what matters to you?

If this is something you have been thinking about in your own career, I would be curious to hear what comes up for you. And if you feel you could benefit from having some space to explore these kinds of questions more deeply, feel free to reach out. I am always happy to have an informal conversation.