The Top 10 Work Values

During self-assessment, which is a crucial step in one’s career management process, an area of importance to understand is one’s values.  Values are “the beliefs about the qualities of human life or the types of behavior that an individual wants to attain” (Greenhaus & Callanan, 2006).  Values usually develop early on and can be learned behaviors or patterns that one esteems in their life.  In regards to a career, values include the preferences one has about the rewards, payoffs, policies, or leadership of their working life.  Schwartz (1999) identified the 10 top values that are relevant to the world of work.  It is important that you identify the value(s) that are important to you so that your job or profession will meet your value-orientation and help you be more engaged in your work and for higher job satisfaction.  See which of these top 10 are important to you:

1. Power
2. Achievement
3. Hedonism (pleasure)
4. Stimulation
5. Self-direction
6. Universalism (applies to all)
7. Benevolence (kindness for the good of others)
8. Tradition
9. Conformity
10. Security

Not aligning your values with your work can cause you a lot of stress and distress in both your personal and work life.  Are there any values that are not on the list that have high relevance to work?

7 Qualities that Help you Get Ahead in the Business World

Ever wonder what it takes to move ahead in your career?  A study that was done by Business Week  found that there are seven qualities that employers look for when promoting or moving employees into leadership roles.   Findings of the study indicated that women need to have more confidence and be more self-promoting  in order to develop move up the ladder; there are not many differences between men and women in the other desired qualities.

For men, the qualites that were valued the most by employers are, in order of importance:   self-confidence (66%) , integrity (59%),  self-discipline (51%),  talent (49%),  aggressiveness (30%),  political saavy (24%), and self-promotion (11%)

For women, the qualities that were valued most by employers, in order of importance, are: self-confidence (72%), integrity (58%), self-discipline (52%), talent (41%), aggressiveness (31%), political saavy (22%), and self-promotion (16%).

Any thoughts or feedback? Which do you value or need improvement in?

Up Your Value: How to Be a Superstar Employee

In the workforce, there are several levels of employees:   (1) those who survive, (2) those who thrive, and (3) superstars.  The key to effective career management is to be that “superstar”.  According to Zig Ziegler, superstar employees are more productive as they not only know and love their jobs, but they are also constantly growing both personally and professionally.  Other traits of superstar employees:

• they are team players to the Nth degree, which increases productivity
• they get along well with their fellow employees
• they fully support the mission of the company
• they are excited about the work they do
• they make an effort to know and understand their roles and that of other workers and how they fit into the organizational structure
• they take time to develop and maintain relationships with both management and coworkers
• they are available to help fellow employees or to answer questions or to give assistance
• they are truly interested in helping others succeed

The last attribute will help you move up in the company faster and become more valuable, which increases your longevity and helps you to master your career.  “You truly can have everything you want if you will just help enough other people to get what they want.”