A New Way to Look at Your Career
You can pick up any business or news magazine at any time
and read articles about the rapid pace of change, the
increasing speed at which everything moves, the
globalization of industry and commerce, and how technology
is changing our world.
Of course all of these things are true. Further reading
will lead us to articles about the “new world of work” and
how our working lives are changing; that we are changing
jobs more frequently, are expected to multi-task, taking
less time off and being completely connected all of the
time. All of these facts can lull us into a belief that
there is nothing we can learn from workers of the past –
that the world is so different that history doesn’t hold
valuable lessons for us.
This I don’t believe to be true.
It is time for us to consider our careers, our
productivity, our success and our satisfaction in a new –
a new but decidedly old – way.
I encourage you to think of yourself as a craftsman.
A craftsman (for my purposes please consider this to be
a gender neutral word) is a person who as always been seen
as one who exhibited high levels of skill, and whose
output was of exceedingly high quality. As you read this
word you are probably thinking of certain types of jobs or
even of particular people.
Regardless of your initial thoughts, there are some
characteristics of craftsman that we can all learn from
and aspire to, even if we think our work is very different
from the work of the past.
The Characteristics
Craftsmen are consistent. You always know what you will
get from a master craftsman. You can expect the details to
be right. You can expect it to be right the first time.
With a craftsman, your expectations are always met – and
often exceeded. We can aspire to this level of consistency
as well. If we have changed jobs or roles or companies
three times in the last five years, this will be a harder
standard to live up to, but it doesn’t change the goal.
Strive to be a model of consistency in your work.
Craftsmen learned from experts. In many cases they
learned their skill or trade as an apprentice. While in
some trades the apprentice process still exists, that
isn’t the case for most of us. This is a fact, but not an
excuse. Your opportunity to learn from experts comes from
finding a mentor or coach and learning from them and their
experience to shorten your learning curve and increase
your success. The process works for craftsmen, and it will
work for you.
Craftsmen practice. Master craftsmen continue to
practice their skill to find new approaches and ways to
enhance the creativity and quality of their work. We too
must practice our crafts regularly and purposefully. When
we complete our daily work with a practice mentality, we
are continually learning, rather than doing it by rote to
get it off our task list.
Craftsmen develop remarkable skills. Their practice and
focus leads a craftsman to a high level of skill. This is
why we call them a craftsman! We will become more
successful when we continue to build and invest in our
skills. Don’t use the excuse that your work changes too
quickly. Too often today we settle for proficiency, rather
than excellence. A craftsman continues to polish and hone
their skills, because they have set their sights very high
. . . and we should too.
Craftsmen’s work is of the highest quality. Along with
exceptional skill it is the quality of the work that sets
a craftsman apart. It is the overall quality of their work
that makes their work output desirable, it is what sets
their reputation. What is your reputation based upon? Does
the quality of your work correlate with the highest levels
of quality? If not, why not? And if not, what will you do
to change that perception?
Craftsmen have great pride in their work. My daughter
looked at a painting on our wall last evening and asked
who painted it. I pointed to the signature and explained
that an artist always signs their work. Craftsmen and
artisans take great pride in their work. They sign it.
They back it up with their reputation. They re-do the work
if necessary – sometimes to standards far above what the
customer may need or desire. When we take greater pride in
our work we produce better quality work, but at least as
importantly we begin to derive more meaning and
satisfaction from our work. The pride comes not only from
exhibiting our skills but from creating life from our time
spent at work.
As you have read the characteristics above you may have
continued to think “yes, but” with every line.
“Yes, but it is easier for a craftsman because their
work never changes.”
“Yes, but a craftsman hasn’t had to deal with doing
their job with new tools higher expectations and more.”
“Yes, but the world is just too different to hold
myself to those standards.”
Don’t allow yourself to fall prey to the yes, buts.
Look for the lessons, not the excuses. When we think of
ourselves as craftsmen – craftspeople – we will reach new
heights of success, productivity and satisfaction in our
work.
I wish you great success with this new view of your
work.
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