Feeling Inauthentic At Work?

The idea of showing your true self at work may be appealing, but could it mean career advancement or might it be dangerous territory? CLAIRE O?MAHONY gets some expert insight.

If you’re struggling to feel authentic at work, possibly because you’ve chosen the wrong career path or industry, it can be difficult to find any level of fulfilment.

Koru Career Guidance’s Denise Tormey, a career guidance counsellor with over 20 years? experience, says that when values are discussed as part?of the career guidance process, this can be a eureka moment for the client. ?It can be a realisation that the reason they are so unhappy in their current role is that they don’t find the work meaningful. ?Meaningful? work can, of course, be very different for each individual. For one person, it may be helping or nurturing others in some way. For another, it may be creating something beautiful for other people to enjoy. This discovery of, or reconnection with, core values is vital to a successful outcome in the guidance process.? And the quest for authenticity and greater meaning in your work doesn’t have to mean a radical change.

?Personality type, life circumstances and where security features in their values will dictate the level of change a person is comfortable with making,? Tormey says. ?So going from graphic designer to primary school teacher or IT consultant to chef is not going to be for everyone. Sometimes, it can simply be a move within an existing organisation. For example, if a client’s highest value/driver is a desire to be an ?expert? in what they do, they may opt to train in a more specialised area in their industry, maybe through further study, and in so doing, a greater sense of satisfaction is attained.?

Read the full article The Real Deal here.

This article originally appeared in the November issue of IMAGE magazine.