Throughout this course I have found the ability to trace back decisions of my career and how it has impacted my experiences and career path. And by doing this also overcoming internal boundaries to share my stories. It has reminded me that everyone has their own story, and it is familiar that we each face failure or disputes. These experiences would motivate us to achieve high-self and prepare us to get ready for another challenge.
During the Kates Workshop interviewing Patricia Davidson (The UOW Vice Chancellor) she mentions an interest in how Patricia decided to leave the United States of America to come to a job in Australia. In particular, ‘focused on the moment, she understood that she was going to take the job, how she found the job or did the job find her?’.
In this moment I was able to reference my own work experience before she had even begun her story. I paused this seminar to think back on my career. Also acknowledging that my individual values are unique as they are developed throughout life experiences, culture and education. They are the essence of who you are as an individual as they set boundaries of decisions you make in your personal life and in the workplace. How it is for us important to review our own values, understand them and make sure that we are being true to them, especially when finding a new workplace.
The process of deciding where best to take my professional career and how it relied on myself and the people that surrounded me were based on my values. How I wanted to start to shape my professional career on all the experience I had, understanding that my professional identity was forged through my relationships with the other people in the workforce (Russell, S. and Carey, M (2002). This experience for myself was a strenuous long journey of applications and interviews and that referencing Kates questions ‘how she found the job or did the job find her?’ I connected it to my experience to come to the conclusion that I found my job based on my value connections, I connected myself to this journey to find a job, though strenuous this journey was the moment I knew I wanted something more than my retail work.
Here I was able to make a connection of how my values and life experience influenced this part of my journey and continued the seminar to actively listen to Patricia’s response and whether her journey was similar.
Listening to her experience and understanding that her life and job experience is what gave her the opportunity of this job, more concisely that the job found her. And more importantly she knew that within this new job she’d have value alignment. I found this most important, when core life values are compromised by the values represented within your workplace’s purpose or culture it can become morally conflicting. When values are persistently disregarded and ignored daily people are more likely to act with a sense of compliance and without commitment (Beechey, K. 2018).
Although Patricia’s story continued to convey that no transition from job to job is easy and building connections that you leave, just becomes a bigger circle of valuable people to your life experience, her mentioning this value alignment really stuck as I used this within my decision making too. From my professional experiences I have learnt that life doesn’t have to involve working in a job that challenges your values, finding one that fits in is most important in that aspect. I’ve found in some of my professional careers it was the people around me that didn’t align with my values however being with them every day within the a days work became mentally tiring.
Patricia talks about the longing to go back home to Australia to her family as an important factor to her choosing this job offer as well saying motherhood was calling her back as well. Although she referenced this as missing her family, I found an important connection back to values. That Patricia valued her family and put value in her coming back to Australia to fulfill that.
I think within this course, listening to guest speakers and doing multiple reflective activities gives us the chance to really understand our decisions career wise and how important it is and valuable for your own growth. To see connections such as connecting your values within your jobs, and how it is important to constantly define and understand your values as living a happy life is dependent on how you stay true to what you believe in within your workplace.
Until Next Time, Live and Laugh,
Beechey, K. (2018). Show your true colours: Values in the workplace. New Zealand journal of medical laboratory science, 72(3), pp.85-88.
Russell, S. and Carey, M (2002) Re-membering: Responding to Commonly Asked Questions, [online] (3). Available at: <http://narrativepractices.com.au/attach/pdf/Remembering_Common_Questions.pdf>
Comments