Three power questions of career belonging that are missing from career development
In my first book, More Than My Title, I had two driving questions:
What is professional identity?
Who are you at the intersection of your multiple professional identities?
Answers to those questions are still on my mind today. They are juicy power questions that make the mind dig in. I love the complexity they hold.
Three power questions of career belonging
For this latest book, which I’m currently writing, there are three questions surfacing to target career belonging.
As of now, they sound something like this:
Who are you (in your work)?
How do you define it (to yourself and others)?
When/where do you find career belonging (for your professional identity)?
Question One: Who are you (In your work)?
Question one is the "professional identity" question, getting to the authentic truth of who you are and what you call yourself, more so than a job title or a generic label that 99% of the workforce uses. This is the ultimate starting point. If you haven't considered it, you need to before you can move forward with your career.
QueStion Two: How do you define it?
Question two cuts to meaning making. Why are you the label you've identified yourself as in your work? What does it mean to you? Why does it matter to you? What value does it provide to others? How does it capture your uniqueness and act as a point of differentiation from all the other professionals who seem to be "like you"? Your explanation unlocks who you are.
Question Three: When/ Where do you find career belonging?
Question three is the connection between yourself and the greater world. "If you are X then where do you fit?" is the logical bridge that needs to be built. However, today's dilemma is our careers are about more than where you fit in the workforce. Once you've identified your professional identity, it's about defining where you find belonging, career belonging to be exact.
Question three is about knowing when you feel seen, known, and valued in your work for your true professional identity. Career belonging is about how you feel in the work you do. Regardless of the job itself, the team, the name of the company, how much you're being paid, do you feel you belong in the actual work? Does the work reflect who you are and what you're capable and interested in doing in a meaningful way?
For many people, they're doing work just because it's their job and they call it their career because they've been doing it for so long. They've taken their "self" out of the equation, and they've become enmeshed with their job.
If instead your answer is YES, you are doing work that reflects who you are in a meaningful way, then you are doing work that is connected to your career belonging. It doesn't have to make rational sense to others (I'm looking at you- job hoppers and jacks/jills-of-all-trades). Career belonging doesn't have to look like a path or anything linear because it's about the constellation of experiences you're embracing in this life that you consider to be your most important work.
If you can clearly recognize moments, events, experiences, projects and roles where you feel seen, known, and valued for your professional self, then you will attract and find more of those opportunities in the work world. Plus, you can communicate to others what you need in order to feel seen, known, and valued and they can provide that for you. It's a two way street. Self-knowledge + self-advocacy leads to more finding more of what you desire.
Purpose of These Three Questions
These questions are intended to cascade off one another. In my mind, they are the new set of navigational questions to help counsel, advise and mentor those who feel lost, stuck, or are in a career transition.
All three need to be answered.
All three are vital to helping someone develop a strong self-image and inner compass in their career.
These questions are key to knowing when you're in your sweet spot, or when you've drifted and are doing what you've been told you should do because it's what society thinks or says is best for your career.
Hopefully, you're following so far. Belonging is a complex topic, so is identity. And career belonging is a certain type of belonging (which I'm diving into in great depth in the new book).
I believe in a world where professionals find more career belonging and focus less on career fit. It's the stumbling block that's holding many of us back from being in our dream careers.
How do these three questions land for you? Send me your thoughts.