Should I stay or should I go?
4 short exercises to assess your job satisfaction and define your next steps
Are you asking yourself the stay-or-go question about your job on a regular basis? Do you hate Sunday evenings and Monday mornings in equal measure?
Maybe it's time to look at your level of job satisfaction... yes, it's scary, but if this is how you feel, you know you must do something about it. And you’re in the right place! Job satisfaction, or the lack of it, is such a big topic. When you're unhappy in your job, it can take over your whole life. Here are 4 short exercises that I’ve put together to help you figure out what’s making you disengaged, and most importantly what needs to change.
Check whether you need to change
People come to career coaching with different objectives and challenges to explore. These are signs that something is not quite right:
You're bored and unchallenged.
You're disengaged and lack motivation.
You're feeling that something is missing.
You're starting to feel physically and emotionally affected by work.
You and your colleagues start noticing you're behaving differently.
So I've designed this very simple questionnaire to help clarify where you stand and whether you should stay in your role or start thinking about changing: 18 questions to make you think about what’s not quite right for you at work.
If you answered NO to one or more of these questions, check whether it's affecting your mental health, physical health and/or relationships. Whatever it is, don't ignore the signs: it could be that you're not sleeping well and having insomnia, it could be stomach aches at the thought of work, it could snapping at your loved ones and being generally less patient.
Dive deeper into the reasons for dissatisfaction
Look into these 5 areas of your work life, and ask yourself honestly what's missing.
1. Organisation: think about the work culture, the organisational values, the industry you're in, the size of the company, the strategy, the leadership, the department you're a part of, etc.
2. Job: explore your satisfaction with your title, place in the org chart, responsibilities and tasks, as well as the development and career opportunities you're given.
3. Environment: think about your office location and set up, the commute, the hours you do and flexible arrangements you have access to.
4. Relationships: describe your relationship with your manager, colleagues and direct reports.
5. Benefits: assess your satisfaction with your salary (is it aligned to the market? does it reflect your real responsibilities?), bonus, increases, as well as the non-financial benefits you have access to.
For each area, rate them on a scale of 1 to 5 - you can draw a radar diagram to have a visual representation. Once you've done that, think about what needs to change and how you will go about changing it.
Think about what you need in the next step of your career
If change is what you need, looking at Career Anchors is a good place to start to understand what motivates you at work. It’s also important to ask yourself what you want to get out of work and what you need to be at your best. Then you can start writing your ‘ideal job’ description, and think about what’s non-negotiable and what aspects you could compromise on.