How To Make Wise Career Decisions

“Because I’m thinking in a broader way, I feel like I am able to make better decisions” – Takafumi Horie

When the subject of career decisions or choices comes to mind, one fundamental fact must be accepted – A choice is, most often, nothing more than a best guess—a hopeful step in a new direction. You can only be sure of the right path when you have enough information of both risk and benefits. As it pertains to career decisions, I find the concept of ‘career anchors’ very instructive and directional.

The concept of ‘career anchors’ is not a completely new concept, I believe. Though, many may not be aware of it. I encountered this concept sometime back and it was a ‘light bulb moment’ for me. All of a sudden, basis for career choices became clearer to me just like the dawn of a new day!

‘Career anchors’ became renowned by the original research of MIT Professor Emeritus Edgar H. Scheinin the mid-1970s. Schein described ‘career anchors’ as a self-concept formed by individuals, which often affect their career preferences or choices. He found that an understanding of ‘career anchors’ would illuminate how people make career choices. Basically, career anchors are perceived areas of competence, motives and values related to work choices or aspirations. Once you know your career anchor, it would help you get a good sense of who you are and what you are after in your career and life. It aims to represent your real self!

Career anchors only evolve as one gain occupational and life experience. However, once the self-concept has been formed, it functions as a stabilizing force, hence the metaphor of “anchor,” and can be thought of as the values and motives that the person will not give up if forced to make a choice. Most of us are not aware of our career anchors until we are forced to make choices pertaining to self-development, family, or career. Yet it is important to become aware of our anchors so that we can choose wisely when choices have to be made.

In Schein’s original research from the mid-1970’s he identified that most people’s self-concept revolved around five anchor categories reflecting basic values, motives and needs. A follow-up study in the 1980’s identified three additional anchor categories making it eight anchor categories in all.

Find below a summarized explanation for each anchor categories for you to do a preliminary career anchors self-assessment.

 - Autonomy/independence – they desire work situations that provide maximum freedom to independently pursue career interests; they need and want control over work; can’t tolerate other people’s rules or procedures; independent consulting and contract work would be a good fit for these people.

 - Security/stability – they are concerned with long-run stability and security of employment; motivated by calmness and consistency of work; don’t like to take chances, and are not risk-takers; stable companies are best bets.

 - Technical-functional Competence – they are intrinsically motivated by the work itself, its technical aspects, and the desire for enhanced technical competence and credibility; in other words, it is the actual work they are concerned with not the organization or the overall mission of their work. They are the specialists.

 - General Managerial Competence – they view specialization as limiting; primarily want to manage or supervise people; enjoy motivating, training and directing the work of others; enjoy authority and responsibility; motivated by the opportunity to develop and use interpersonal and problem-solving skills to climb to general management levels. They are the generalists.

 - Entrepreneurial Creativity – they like the challenge of starting new projects or businesses, have lots of interests and energy, and often have multiple projects going at once; different from autonomy in that the emphasis is on creating new business.

 - Service or Dedication to a Cause – they are motivated by core values rather than the work itself; strong desire to make the world a better place; committed to the service of others. They find NGO jobs amusing.

 - Pure Challenge – they are motivated by the desire to overcome the odds, solve unsolved problems, and win out over competitors; conquering, problem solving; constant self-testing.

 - Life Style – wants to integrate personal, family and career needs; have a high need to balance work and the rest of life; enjoy work, but realizes that work is just one of many parts of life that are important.

What category do you fall under? The whole essence of this post is to awaken your awareness of this concept and for you to get better informed understanding of how it affects your career choices now and later in your career journey.

SOURCE: 

How To Find A Job You Love

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius

VENTURES AFRICA – While trying to find an anchor for today’s post, the above quote credited to Confucius, the great Chinese legend, came to my rescue.  I believe many of you would have come across the above quote at one time or the other and would continue to ask how true is the quote? Can you really choose a job or the job chooses you? On and on, you can go. The aim of this post is to attempt to answer the question –how can I find a job I love?

Permit me to start with myself. I have strong passion for knowledge and that drives most of my offline & online activities a great deal. I love engaging myself in intellectual activities per time; I simply love reading and sharing ideas! Can I make a career around my interests & passion? Yes, I can sure do! But, is that what I do on a full time basis now – partially yes!  Why, you would ask? Truth be told, I didn’t get to know all these about myself in time, I only started to discover myself as my career in HR kicked-off a few years back. Actually, I have a first degree in Chemical Engineering and thanks to early career discovery; I’m close to doing a job I love! My citing all the details above is for a reason which reading till the end of this piece would justify.

Choosing what you love and making it your job, how true is that?  Can it really be achieved, irrespective of location & profession? I found a perfect answer, which I would be sharing with you in a moment.

According to James Citrin and Richard Smith in their book called “The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers” (the book was based on in-depth, original research and extensive experience of the authors), they proposed that there are three critical elements responsible for finding the right fit in a career i.e. find a job you love. These three elements are:

- Playing to your strengths

- Setting your passions free and

- Working with the right set of people

They believed that when “you find your strengths, passions, and cultural fit, you will be happier and more successful in your career. How simple indeed. However, from the thousands of professionals they surveyed ONLY 9 percent believed they are in jobs that fully leverage their strengths, performing activities that they are passionate about in an energizing environment and with people that they like and respect.”

After encountering the above research findings as presented in their book, I came to the understanding of why every employee/job holder is always on the move to change jobs! It is the quest to strike a balance between all three elements. I believe this would hold true for those that make ‘career fulfilment  their main goal and not ‘cash fulfilment’.

- As an employee, ask yourself – does my current job role play to my strength?

- Am I passionate about going to work each morning? Do I love to be with my colleagues at work or say your boss at work?

- And as an employee planning to change employers, ask yourself – will my new role play to my strength? Will I be passionate about my new role? And will I grow career wise with my new employer’s?

These are the main questions you need to ask and consider very deeply.

In closing, finding a job you love is not a day’s job, it requires a lot of balancing act based on the three elements above – your strength, your passion and the people you work with! When the balance is right, you can make bold to say you are doing a job you love!

Till next time, we are all work in progress!

SOURCE:  http://www.ventures-africa.com/2012/04/how-to-find-a-job-you-love/

Peter Akwasi Sarpong briefs us on the history of Christianity in Ghana

Christianity

Christianity entered the land in the form of Catholicism in the latter part of the 15^th century. Whereas this brand of Christianity thrived around Elmina and Cape Coast, it disappeared mysteriously after about 50 years.

Archbishop Peter Akwasi Sarpong

Then came the second wave of Christianity in the 19^th century. This time it was a very fragmented and confrontational Christianity that we had to contend with.

To begin with, the same Christians who brought us the faith from Europe were the self-same people who colonized us. Brandishing the cross in one hand, they held fast to the pistol in the other. It is true that the colonizers were not evangelizers and, in many instances, did not even believe Christianity; yet, their origin and coincidence of their appearance in Ghana identified them as one. They were, therefore, entangled in the supreme contradiction of preaching the freedom of all the children of God, while at the same time they imposed heavy burdens such as the slave trade on us.

What is worse, they preached forms of Christianity that had caught on in their various countries in Europe and which often invariably, at least externally, clashed with one another. Religion and colonial secular interests locked horns with each other, the colonialists bringing along with them the brand of Christianity found in their countries. The catholic Portuguese were ousted by Calvinist Danes who in turn had to give way to Reformed Dutch who vacated their position to Anglican and Methodist British. What was otherwise a military, political or economic colonial situation created an inevitable sectarian conflict among different Christian churches.

Christian denominations were caught up in the struggle for conversions, which made one denomination the enemy or, at least, the rival of another. The different denominations established strongholds in different parts of Ghana. The Methodists were strong in Western and Central Regions, the Presbyterians in the Eastern Region, Anglicans in the urban areas and Catholics spread thinly in the whole land. Greater Accra Region was mainly Presbyterian and Methodist.

The different Christian denominations, by their rivalry ended up dividing Ghanaians, in contradiction to the principle of unity that all nations seek and the cardinal virtue of being one, according to the Lord Jesus Christ’s own words.

The mid-20^th century saw the upsurge of new religious movements: Pentecostal, charismatic, healing, spiritual and independent African churches, to mention a few.

These new Christian churches were either introduced from outside Africa, especially the United States, or from other African countries such as Nigeria. They came at different times and settled but many of them too sprang from Ghanaian roots. Some of these are splinter groups from mainline mother Churches while many others are churches that have sprung up on their own merit. 

The thrust of their ministry seems to be insistence on evangelism, man’s sinfulness, repentance, healing, provision of answers to problems of practical life, literary interpretation of scriptural texts, lively and participatory liturgies, and the use of African mentality in dealing with the faithful.

BY: PETER AKWASI SARPON, ARCHBISHOP OF KUMASI