Developing your professional direction: your values are your compass

This is a Pathfinder Expert Voices post, by guest blogger Dr Julie Scanlon, an Executive Coach and Consultant in Diversity and Inclusion. She was previously an academic.

“Work: an opportunity for discovering and shaping; the place where the self meets the world” (David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, 2001)

‘The place where the self meets the world’ suggests a two-way interchange, with work impacting on our sense of self and our self influencing the world through work. When you respond to the common question ‘What do you do?’ with ‘I am a researcher’ or ‘I am a consultant’, it implies work comprises your whole identity (even though you are much more than your work). This is why decisions about careers can feel BIG.

So, how can researchers decide what’s right for them – and how can managers or PIs support them?

Firstly, this is not necessarily a one-time decision, but more likely an iterative process where your professional direction shifts and tweaks over time. Or it may take a significant change of direction, should you wish it to. What is ‘right’ is also unique to the individual and anyone supporting researchers in their career development needs to be mindful of this. Dr Holly Prescott outlines how implicit (or explicit) judgments manifest in language and assumptions on what is the ‘appropriate’ career direction.   

A very useful starting point for researchers is to know your ‘self’. This means knowing what is important to you and what your values are. If you work in line with your values, you are more likely to be satisfied, feel happy and feel you are making the contribution to the world that you wish.

Some people have a good sense of what their values are, but many don’t or may have not taken the time to reflect on their values. The concept of finding your ‘why’ originated with Simon Sinek. Finding your ‘why’, your sense of purpose, and what motivates you, springs from your values.    

Discovering your values

Here are three techniques for discovering your values. Try any of them or all three. Your values will shift over time, so it’s worth revisiting them.  

1. ‘Peak moments’.

With a notepad and pen: Think of a moment when things seemed just right. This is literally a moment, a surge of feeling, a sense of contentment, an inner smile. Reflecting on that situation, ask yourself:

• ‘What was happening then?’
• ‘Who was present (if anyone) there?’
• ‘What made that moment so perfect for me?’
• ‘How did I feel then?’

You may draw on any area of life, not only work.

Repeat this activity for two more ‘peak moments’.

You can undertake this exercise alone, but it also works well if you are able to share your ‘moments’ verbally with someone you trust.

Look back over your moments. What patterns emerge from them? Are there common themes? What made these important to you? If you have undertaken this with a trusted person, what did they observe about the way you spoke – your tone and how animated you were at particular points? These observations and patterns give you clues as to what is important to you and what your values are.

2. Writing a personal mission statement

Write your own personal mission statement in two or three sentences. What is it that you wish to achieve in your life? What are your aims and purpose? These are big questions and will take some thought and re-visiting. It will likely change over the course of your life, too.

3. Use a values list 

There are plenty of lists of values online that you can use to identify what resonates with you. Some examples are here and here. 

Using your values to guide you

Once you have a sense of your values, you can use this self-awareness to start shaping your direction and making decisions based on them. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What work / roles will support me to live out my values?
• How might I bring more of what I value into my life now and in the future?
• What specific steps do I need to take to bring more of what I value into my life now and in the future?
• What is the first small step that I can take TODAY?
• If you’re unsure what steps to take, what is the first small ‘low stakes’ step toward finding that out? 

You won’t be able to shape everything, of course! Clarify where the boundaries are of what you can control, what you can influence and what is outside of those. Focus on what is within your control and influence. This will help your readiness for the next step: ‘Luck is what happens when readiness meets opportunity’ (Seneca).

Sometimes opportunities come along that you have not planned for or that you were unable to predict. These might seem like bright, shiny temptations. How do you know whether or not to go for them? These are good questions to ask yourself for these kinds of situations:

• Does it align with my values?
• Does it move me toward my overall goal, perhaps taking another route?
• If no, does it require me to adjust/refine/change my goal? If it does, you should define your new goal. Then ask yourself, “do I REALLY wish to define my goal as this”? Use the awareness of your values to help you consider this point.
• What things do I need to de-prioritise to take on the new opportunity?
• How do I feel about de-prioritising those things?    

The role of managers and PIs

Fostering an environment where the researcher can ‘be’ is important to enable them to find their path. The path you took for your own career, as a researcher manager or PI, may be right for them or it may not. Simply acknowledging that different pathways exist and not being overly prescriptive (unless you are asked for direct advice) can help the researcher find their direction. Recognising the diversity of experiences, values, skills and ambitions of researchers will benefit whatever environment they choose to work in, and it will benefit your team as a manager. Indeed, it is the purpose of Pathfinder to support researchers (and their managers) to recognise this diversity and help researchers find their career direction.