FORT LAUDERDALE – On the Path towards discovering your True Authentic Vocation, reflection on your values at work is very important for self-assessment and for plotting a path of success towards achieving a high level of potentiality in your career.

Values are simply the things that, to us, are valuable and desirable and serve as the basis for making career decisions. For many corporate executives, they celebrate an extrinsic value system that nurtures external gratification such as physical setting and their pay grade and title and how many people report to them on a daily basis, while for others, their values are deeply rooted in the value of their work as to how it intrinsically relates to their community and to the betterment of their society.

There are three major value systems: achievement, affiliation and power. Achievement reflects on striving for a benchmark of excellence and improving one’s performance while affiliation puts emphasis on the values that most people hold most dear such as their interactions with other people and building relationships with their coworkers beyond the confinement of the office. The value system of power is pretty simple; it relishes on the impact that one has on other people and their decisions and it strives to be influential in every aspect. Perhaps you have a power-intense supervisor who micromanages your entire existence at work but your “Values at Work” system overrides any negativity because you celebrate the “Freedom” of working 4 days a week and having more time to spend with family and friends.

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According to Dr. Edgar Schein, the author of “Career Anchors: The Changing Nature of Careers Self Assessment” and an expert in organizational psychology, it’s important to know your career anchors really early in your career. By identifying your values, you will know what job you should do and which career is right for you that’s satisfying based on your core values and your personality.

A lot of times people choose a career for all of the wrong reasons and their personal work values are not compatible with their work environment. Without truly understanding your work values, it may cause many years of unrest, stress and loss of productivity because of the mismatched drivers and motivators for your work and your career anchors. Is it possible for someone to be a hybrid of these value systems? Yes, it is possible and quite common. Being able to access the importance of values at work is an important step in unraveling one’s true Authentic Vocation. The clarification of one’s values is important for the development of a successful career plan.

Are your values more intrinsic or extrinsic or cultural or operational. Are you just going through the flow at work without ever really thinking about the impact you have on your career, your family and your community? Is work and the things you accomplish on the job simply a means to an end where you go to pay your bills and you have a little money left over at the end of the money to have a cookout at the beach with friends. It’s okay to strive for a little “freedom” as your Values at Work System. It’s important to access the sustainability of your “Values at Work” with respect to being able to accomplish your 5-year or 10-year short term career goals. While it may sound great to have “happiness” and “freedom” at work, however, will these values allow you to tap into your Career’s Potentiality?

If you are interested in developing a more successful career plan with short-term goals for the next five years, break down your values in one of four categories: (1) Intrinsic, (2) Extrinsic, (3) Cultural and (4) Operational. A cultural value relates to your independence and autonomy in your work environment and how it builds your character and personality and an operational value relates to how focused you are on the day-to-day flow of activities at your company.

Are you an achievement type of person or do you base your success at your workplace on the relationships you have with your coworkers. So, do you simply work to have a Power Trip and live for having influence over other people and micromanaging the lives of your associates. Aim high with your Values at Work self-assessment so that you can dictate your career path for the next five years. Maybe it’s in the Cards that you jump ship to another company very soon to gain greater career satisfaction.