Topic 6.1: The Values – Vocation Link
In the first module of this unit, we reflected on our own personal values and the importance of alignment of our personal values with those of the organisations and communities within with we operate.
“In order to work out what it is you really want, what you really need from your life, you need to work out what your values are. Values and beliefs have always been powerful motivating factors in our lives, so much so that throughout history people have been prepared to die for them … We need to make our values explicit to ourselves so that we can be in control and to make real decisions about our lives.” (Greene and Grant 2001, p83).[1]
In their book, Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?, Gareth Jones and Rob Goffee make this observation about the frustration so many people feel in relation to their work and careers. “This inability to be ourselves at work is an important element in the work/life balance debate … Work/life balance means much more than spending time at home – it means transforming workplaces into arenas for the display of authenticity” (2006, p31).[2]
They quote the American oral historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel, who writes in his book Working: People talk about what they do all day and how they feel about it.
“Work is about daily meaning as well as daily bread; for recognition as well as cash; in short, for a sort of living rather than a Monday-through-Friday sort of dying … We have a right to ask of work that it include meaning, recognition, astonishment and life”. (Terkel, 1974, pxiii)[3].
Most of us do seek the opportunity to “be ourselves” in and through the work that we do. We’ve already seen that achieving this includes having the self-awareness to understand the type of work that is challenging and rewarding, identifying and building around our strengths, and being clear about our values.
The good news is we don’t have to die for our values in this unit! Rather, we’d suggest you live for your values. And one of the key ways – though certainly not the only way – we have opportunity to do that, is through our work and careers. We often talk about careers, but there’s another word that takes the concept of career a little deeper and links it perhaps more deeply to our values. And that is the word “vocation”. The idea of “vocation” has its origins in Christian concepts of a call or summons to direct an individual’s life and occupation towards something for which they were destined or uniquely equipped in the service of their community or society. It was a term typically used in relation to the priesthood. The idea now, however, is more widely used to capture the idea of a life lived with intentional purpose and in service of others – one aligned with a person’s values and strengths and in a way that has meaning for them. (The slightly variant word “avocation” typically means a vocation that is pursued outside one’s career – for example, an accountant by career or vocation, but a musician by hobby or avocation).
Terry Moran, AO, Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 2008 – 2011, spoke to the Institute of Public Administration Australia (ACT) on 8 December 2010 on the topic of “Citizens, culture and leadership”. In his speech, he made the following observation:
“A sense of vocation is a key motivator for public servants – a sense that their work has intrinsic worth, that they can make a difference for the whole community. In that sense, public service is a calling – to be a public servant is to be committed to ‘public service’; to be a servant of democracy even. A key component of vocation is professionalism. For public service leaders, that means giving frank and honest advice, while at the same time recognising that they are accountable to their ministers and through them to the Parliament and the nation.”[4]
Recommended Reflection
30 mins
- Which of them have most importance to you in relation to your career aspirations?
- Which of them are being best met in your current role?
- Which of them are being least well met in your current role?
- When you entered the public service or NGO sector, did you do so with a sense of vocation?
- How would you describe it – what was it that attracted or motivated you?
- Or perhaps you have developed a sense of vocation about your work? How would you describe that process?
- What drew you to the work you do?
- Why or how is the idea of public service important to you?
- Greene, J. & Grant. A. (2001). Coach Yourself: Make real changes in your life. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson ↵
- Goffee, R. & Jones, G. (2006). Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? Harvard Business School Press ↵
- Terkel, S. (1974) Working: People talk about what they do all day and how they feel about it. New York: The Free Press ↵
- Moran, T. (2010) Citizens, culture and leadership (speech to the Institute of Public Administration Australia, ACT) (8 December). Retrieved from https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22media/pressrel/43 3014%22 ↵