Hate Your Job, But Love Your Company?
Can you really love your company, but hate your job? Sure, it happens all of the time! Employees love their company if they can align their personal values to the culture, and if they believe in the vision, strategy, and brand promise of the organization. But often, they are in jobs that do not satisfy or challenge them, or they do not understand how their actions support the vision and strategy that they believe in. Now, I’m not talking about a project or a task that you may hate, but rather a position that in general is not inspiring or connected to the bigger purpose. A recent study by the Covey Institute revealed that only 20% of employees have a clear line of sight between their work and the goals of their organization.
Loving your job AND your company is the Holy Grail that results in inspired and engaged employees who deliver exceptional customer experiences and consistent high performance. Loving your job, but hating your company will eventually lead to a decision to move on to another opportunity, either by your choice or by that of the company. Lack of belief in the company vision and strategy, or inability to align to the culture and values will drive a lack of engagement and ultimately performance that does not meet the expectations of the organization.
But what do you do if you love the company, but hate the job? Certainly there are people all over the world who fit this category and have just resigned themselves to the fact that they will continue to be unhappy with their job, but will just bite their tongue and carry on. After all, if they love the company and have a fairly stable job with acceptable compensation, it could be worse, right? But if you’re not passionate about what you do every day, it can affect your attitude and relationship with family, friends, co-workers and customers. Therefore, if you really love your company but are not fulfilled in your job, it’s worth the effort to deal with it. Let’s take a look at the two primary causes.
The first cause of job-specific discontent occurs when the work is not fulfilling or challenging. First and foremost, you need to continue to perform your job at high levels of competence and not allow your dissatisfaction to impact your performance. And secondly, you need to invest time and energy on developing your skills and competencies. Here are a few specific actions you can take to move from a job that does not inspire you to one that does.
- Learn new skills that support your passion
- Be willing to volunteer your time to become engaged in areas of the company in which you have an interest, even if they’re not within your current job scope
- Demonstrate your willingness to learn new things and take the time to network with those in departments or job functions in which you have a strong interest
- Participate in webinars, events, and training that increase your skills and expertise in the areas in which you’re interested.
- Above all, never let your performance slack off while you learn new skills. Dissatisfaction with your current role can never be an excuse for non-performance. And regardless of the skills you develop, if you get a reputation as a non-performer, it is unlikely that you will have an opportunity to put those new skills to use in a new role.
I recall my days in the cable television industry. I played to my strength and joined a company as a staff accountant, knowing that my career aspirations did not include staying in the accounting field. But I loved the company and the industry. Based on my performance in the accounting field and my efforts to learn the skills required to run an operation, I was given the opportunity to run the Kentucky operation. Similarly, when I joined Whirlpool, I joined as a controller, given my education and primary experience. Again, I loved the company and knew that if I wanted to move to a marketing or operational position, I would have to improve my skills. After doing both, I was given the opportunity to run the KitchenAid Brand and that led to my successful movement for the rest of my career from accounting to marketing, which was the area for which I was most passionate.
The second cause of hating your job and loving your company is that you do not understand how your actions contribute to the vision, strategy, and goals of the company. Everyone wants to be part of something bigger than themselves and when you lack that line of sight, your job can become uninspiring. There is a lot written about steps companies can take to address this challenge and to improve employee engagement. But I would suggest that the employee shares a responsibility in addressing these issues. Employee engagement is not a spectator sport. Specific things an employee can do to make the connection include:
- Ensure that you know the company vision, strategy, and goals
- Participate in communications activities, including visiting the company website
- Spend time with your immediate manager asking specific questions about how your role supports the company objectives
- When developing your annual goals and objectives, work with your manager to ensure that they are aligned with his/her goals and the company goals
- Develop partnerships and a collaborative spirit with others so your role becomes part of a team performance, not an individual one, all connected to the company goals
It takes courage and commitment to address the two causes of dissatisfaction with your job, uninspiring and non-challenging work and lack of line of sight to the company objectives. But when you attain that Holy Grail of loving your company and loving what you do to help the company achieve its vision and goals, you will truly be part of an engaged and inspired workforce; and the customers will have more positive experiences that will drive growth and loyalty.