A couple of years ago I read the book The Happiness Advantage Shawn Achor. One of the key takeaways was the research by Yale psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski who discovered people have one of three “work orientations”, or mindsets about their work. People see it as a Job, a Career or a Calling. While reading Grit by Angela Duckworth I discovered she references the same research. I have written about this before and was inspired by Grit to talk about this again.
Job
- See work as a chore.
- Pay check as a reward.
- Work because they have to.
- Work to advance and succeed.
- Invested in their work.
- Want to do well.
- View work as an end in itself.
- Find work more rewarding.
- Work harder and longer.
- Fulfilled not by external reward, but because their work contributes to the greater good, draws on their personal strengths,and gives their life meaning and purpose.
Which of these three is your “work orientation”?
There are some good trainers who see training as a career. They work hard and want to do a good job. Training is an opportunity to do well and succeed and advance in their law enforcement career.
I believe that great trainers however, consider training as a calling.
If training for you however is just “a job”, get out of training and move on to something else. Training is too important to be ‘a job’.
If training is a career, great. Give all you have to it while you are there. You can make a positive impact on your people and your organization and in the process you will grow.
If training is a calling, then I want to thank you and encourage you to keep living the dream and living your purpose. Know that you make a difference.
Note: The Excellence in Training Academy was created for those who view training as a Calling as well as those who view it as a Career. Our mission is to create a resource where you as a law enforcement trainer can every week go to access professional development training created specifically for trainers.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Dedicated to helping good trainers become great trainers and great trainers to deliver awesome training.
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