Bad News - It Works Perfectly

I’ve just had to change my mobile.  I have been using an iPhone 3g, which I loved, until the software updates eventually made it unusable.  Fortunately my contract was up, so I took the plunge and got an Android phone.  I was happy.  Very happy.  I could make calls, and although finding my way round the phone was a bit of a challenge it was fun.

Sadly it wouldn’t sync with all my other Apple tech and a little reluctantly I went back to the iPhone, but this time the latest version.  Now everything works perfectly.  It’s faster, slicker and everything I wanted from a phone, but I wasn’t excited about it.  Everything worked, no hassle, no tweaking settings, but it’s now just a phone.  What happened?

I was thinking about that today and a career management tool I use popped into my head.  Career Orientations helps people understand what motivates them in a career.  It’s really useful both for the individual and their organisation to help increase individual contribution and engagement.  It’s based on research by Brooklyn Derr who identified 5 distinct orientations:

Advancement. This upwardly mobile career orientation is usually associated with advancing up a hierarchy of positions or status system. More influence,

Security. Some people are driven by loyalty, organisational identity and the desire for a sense of order. In return for dedicated, hard-working service, they seek long-term employment, benefits, recognition and appreciation from the employer.

Freedom. Instead of moving upward in career direction, the careerist following this strategy seeks to move out toward the margin. The emphasis is on gaining personal autonomy, “space”, loose supervision and responsibility for outcomes rather than being bound by another’s process, norms and rules.

Challenge. Some careerists are driven by the need for excitement, risk and the engaging process of work. In such a career, one seeks to move – often laterally – to the centres of action, adventure and creativity.

Balance. Some people seek to balance their work, relationship and self- development lives. For these individuals, work is just one important dimension of a total lifestyle orientation, even though such careerists may emphasise different dimensions at different seasons and given different pressures.

I’m a Challenge and Freedom person.  I like autonomy and I particularly like challenging and exciting relatively short term projects.  My experience with my iPhone brings this home to me.  The Android phone was new exciting and posed a challenge to get it to work with my existing technology.  The iPhone put simply, just works.  Where’s the fun in that?

Translate that into a work based scenario.  It’s really important if you want to engage, motivate and develop someone that you not only find the right projects and assignments for their capabilities, but also that you position the assignment with their career orientation.