Getting to where you want to be in your career may be less about moving up the organisation and more about finding your niche.
According to a report by global consultancy Bain & Company, motivations for work are changing. This is due to a range of factors, from the rise of the gig economy and artificial intelligence to the trend towards remote working.
‘What people want in a job, and who they are at work, is richly varied’
The report, The Working Future: More Human, Not Less, based on an extensive survey and interviews with 20,000 people across 10 countries, reveals that many employees no longer aspire to climb the corporate ladder.
Moving mindsets
‘The assumption has been that everyone is moving through the system to become a better worker, or a better manager,’ says James Root, a senior partner at Bain & Company and a co-author of the report. In this scenario, ‘individual motivations barely matter at all. Do good work, be on the right side of visible success stories, earn a promotion, ask for more responsibility. Everyone is trying to improve whatever they do, with a goal of rising through the organisation.’
‘Many roles are not defined by simply taking another step up the ladder’
But Root argues that scaling career heights is not for all. In his book, The Archetype Effect, workers can be classified into six major archetypes based on their motivations: givers thrive in collaborative environments; operators value stability and minimal risks; explorers seek creativity and innovation; artisans prefer autonomy and a focus on quality; strivers are motivated by recognition and advancement; while pioneers are driven by leading new ventures.
‘What people want in a job, and who they are at work, is richly varied,’ says Root. ‘There is no such thing as an average worker.’
There are many roles where personal progress, results and success are not defined by simply taking another step up the ladder, Root says, with specialists and experts highly valued. There are, he adds, plenty of firms that will give people a choice, at a certain point in their journey, between moving into management or not.
Regardless of where individuals find themselves in their careers, the most important soft skill they need at work is emotional maturity. Root refers to this as ‘the ability to stay poised under pressure, to be comfortable giving and receiving directions, to learn and change through learning and to sustain a strong sense of your own identity’.
There is an emerging trend towards individuals understanding what they want out of work and being able to communicate it, adds Root. ‘One of the most quietly radical discoveries of the last decade, as we empowered workers to tell us more about who they really are at work, is that it was a myth all along to assume every worker wanted to be on the same path, climbing the ladder.’
More information
Visit the ACCA Careers website for news and advice on your next career move.
