Are you yourself anymore?
Most people gradually adjust to the let downs, frustrations, and even boredom of their work until they surrender to a routine that is incompatible with who they are and what they truly want.
Some people can be just lucky to land the profession and job they really like. Most others must do some job that they may not like because they must put bread and butter on the table. However, some remote individuals take on a job that they like paying seconds to the monetary reward. Well, the majority of people are not so remote, like those who go into drama for instance, with a stroke of luck, they make it, but if they do not blossom, they may disintegrate financially. Priesthood is another remote calling.
Yet, I think there are many ways to make your job interesting or if that is impossible, you then have to move to one that is rewarding to your daily work life. There are clues in opening doors to your career in Your career - whose responsibility?, JD + P11 + Resume and Getting Ahead. Thus, there is something you can do to also be who you want to be.
However, there is something that bothers me much in the UN system, not forsaking UNICEF of course, and that is the pitiful issue of typecasting or stereotyping. You may initially hire as a secretary to land a job in the organization and then typecast as a secretary. To undo you out of the secretary category is an upheaval task. Even if you go to graduate school, still do not expect to get a quick jump-start to a higher tier. Graduating and graduating out of the secretary typecast is possible and many in UNICEF have done their bit to break out of those ranks and enter the professional category. You can also do it, if that is what you want to do. Talk to individuals who just made it, their experience is worthy to note.
Another narrow stereotyping is that accountants are only numbers people. Not too many know that the accounting profession has changed since three decades ago to bring in the focus of management and efficiency. On the other hand, there can be careless stereotyping that overweight people are slow in their work, or that one particular nationality is lazy or arrogant, and the list goes on. One serious stereotyping is that Africans are dishonest, just analogous to like blacks cannot vote in the good old USA. These types of typecasting are ridiculous. Just because there is, a civil war in one country does not mean that all citizens of those countries are gangsters.
As much as there is discrimination of “being overweight” there are also unconscious discrimination of being short, being a woman or African or Asian. At least in much of corporate America being nonwhite and short does not get you to the top ladder easily. While this does not seem to prevail in UNICEF, from my APC experience, I would see the awe when a tall handsome man or beautiful lean woman came for interview; there were some preferences at the unconscious level. In a sense, being short and Asian or African and getting to the top would make a remarkable man or woman. Pity, in some parts of the UN and its agencies, pressures to post a nationality into a position leads to below average people in some senior positions of authority.
I think HRM knows much of these issues and can incorporate them into their training programs. What ever happened to good old retreats in UNICEF? They add everlasting value to human relations and give people an opportunity to break the code of silence when immediate supervisors to watch over do not wall them. UNICEF should regain its past culture and give a seat at the table for some junior people, at least off and on, so that they can participate in senior management meetings and program development sessions.
Well, folks, all I am trying to say are that since there is no perfect job for everybody, most people are not themselves anymore when at work. They may like to speak up but a boss may not allow that. They may like to try out something new and could be discouraged from doing so. I do not say that pampering staff is a good deed. Nevertheless, there should be a realization among bosses that they can do something, just something to make the workplace a little more pleasant for those who work with them. Work with people; do not make them work for you. Bosses have power, thus UNICEF training programs must focus on using that power to lead and motivate staff but not to bully or be spineless at the other extreme. As much as organizations seek integrity and honesty in administrative procedures, that same degree of integrity and honest must focus on the HRM function as well.
Are you really yourself at work? Then ask the question: Who Am I? Search for answers and find cures. You can be surprised that by having a rewarding after-work life you can change the entire world around you and send you to work spinning in joy and fulfillment. Remember, there is another world outside of your work environment from family to hobbies and a host of extracurricular activities. Group up and make your life memorable out of your work area. Moreover, when you retire you are already set to continue the journey of your untapped potential and be who you really are.
Comment: I was inspired to write this essay after hearing of one phrase: Who Am I? Then I became a source to myself when I traced events of my work-life, but unfortunately some may be too dramatic to tell, but I put in stuff here which is realistic to a wider coverage of people and not individualistic as to my own case. For much of my UNICEF career I was who I am most of the time. However, when I finally had the wrong recognition, they I opted for early retirement. So, these are one of my untold stories. The greatest inspiration to write this essay came from reading the book 'Blink' by Malcolm Gladwell.
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