A Framework of Career Belonging
When I began my research on career belonging, I was stumped on how to explain that career belonging doesn’t mean when you have a job and you work for an employer and feel as though you do or don’t belong to them. In my interviews with professionals, this is where their responses usually started.
So, I had to revise my explanation and created a working definition:
Career belonging means being accepted for who you are in your work, whatever you choose to do, and it’s a feeling of freedom, flexibility and autonomy to go in whatever direction you like.
It’s about letting go of career paths and career fit, which are limiting concepts and force you to be what others want you to be.
Once I shared this explanation of career belonging, people understood I was asking about internal validation and their personal viewpoints on their career. It shifted our conversation in new directions and as a result, I realized career belonging isn’t something people know how to achieve. They stumble upon it if they’re lucky.
What it takes to achieve career belonging
Draft diagram of my Framework of Career Belonging
I set out to create a framework of what it takes to achieve career belonging. The details began emerging as I collected interviews, articles, and career own experiences. I’m a qualitative researcher, so I analyzed stories, experiences, examples and many types of resources to determine themes and create findings.
I designed a triangle that represents the three sides of career belonging. Underneath each side are three components that need to be considered with the overarching elements. All three sides work together in harmony to help you achieve your career belonging.
Use this diagram as an aid in your own career development process if you ever feel stuck.
Which of these nine items do you still need to work on?
Developmental Needs
These are the components you need to develop in your self: Your professional identity (how you see yourself in your work), your self-regulation (ability to delay gratification and be patient for things to unfold), and your self-confidence (your self-believe in your abilities and talents. That you ARE good enough).
The developmental needs side is the most reflective and introspective of the triangle. You have to go deep inside of yourself. Most people don’t know themselves as well as they’d like to or think they do.
For instance, if you ask yourself “What is my professional identity?” What would your answer be? Have you ever thought about this part of yourself before? Most people haven’t, and their answers tend to be superficial and lightweight instead of authentic, rich, and thoughtful because we’ve never had to stop and study who we really are.
Even when we use tools like Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder and DISC profiles, these assessments assign us to one of four types or sixteen characteristics. These tools give us some insights into who we are, but ultimately are quantitative expressions of our identity when our true identity is infinite and unique.
Having a strong understanding of your self-concept takes time and work. It can take years to peel back the layers, and with more experiences, comes more layers of self-awareness. Seeing and knowing your professional identity isn’t easy or obvious. It’s a complex undertaking. Professional identity plus
Self-regulation is connected to delayed gratification. It’s your ability to regulate yourself to have patience for the things you want and are striving for. This skill is linked to achieving more success in life and greater happiness.
Finally, self-confidence is critical to develop because you have to believe in yourself and your abilities in order to feel secure and worthy, and be willing to try new things and ask for what you want. Conversely, when your self-doubt and inner critic are too strong, you’ll be defeatist and won’t have the courage to show up as you are and feel proud of who you are. These are the three required developmental needs to achieve career belonging.
Emotional Needs
Emotional needs are the universal, core feelings each of us desires in our career, whether we realize it or not. They are the foundation of why we stay or why we leave a job; why we love what we do or why we disengage from it; why we perform better and feel purpose or why we’re lazy and resort to quiet quitting.
Feeling seen, feeling known, and feeling valued comes down to how well we see, know and value ourselves first. If we can’t do it, how can we ever expect others to do it?
Without our own self-knowledge, we can’t tell the world how we want to be known. Do you want a plaque over your desk or a custom coffee mug or just a pat on the back? Which one works best for you? And if none of these work, then what would be right? We can’t and shouldn’t expect the world to just figure it out for us. It’s ridiculous. Waiting until our boss knows how to make us feel the way we want demonstrates an immature level of understanding about our own needs. It’s like asking our partner to read our mind. It’s not fair, and we might be waiting a long time for them to get it right.
If outwardly, we want to be seen, known, and valued, then it starts inwardly.
If we don’t know how we see ourselves, then how do we expect to tell others how we like to or want to be seen? If we don’t know how we like to be known, then again, how will we be able to communicate what it takes
Integration Needs:
This side is what helps the developmental and emotional needs tie together. It’s the glue that unites them
GOAL OF THIS DIAGRAM:
To become a simple, useful, frequently referenced visual for guiding ourselves and/or others in key aspects of modern career development.
I'd love your feedback (questions below):
Email me with answers to any or all of the following. I'd love to know:
What's surprising or most interesting, and why?
What's confusing or doesn't make sense, and why?
What would you change or add, and why? [Literally, what did I forget?]
Would you use this, share this, or refer to this when talking to friends on career advice or career struggles? Why or why not?
FINAL NOTE
A couple of things to know, which this model helps address:
While Ikigai (the Japanese concept for our reason for being) is a splendid framework for connecting what we love to do, what we're good at, what the world needs, and what we can get paid for, it neglects developmental factors of professional identity evolution and self-confidence issues, which tend to be rooted in self worth.
Most career frameworks are focused on CAREER FIT- how to MATCH your skills with the skills of a job, career or employer.