Your Dream Job is Not A Job – Part 1 of 3: Autonomy
Posted on 27. Apr, 2012 by willrak in Internet Marketing Agency Management, Internet Marketing Success Stories, Online Marketing Industry News, SearchMarketMe News, Small Business Network, Starting Your Own Business
Everyone’s looking for their dream job, their dream opportunity, the one which will make you happier, more financially successful, the one that’ll let you shine.
Well, it turns out your dream job is not a job.
This week, we’re looking a quick, entertaining video narrated by Dan Pink on what really drives us, and turning it into very practical advice: your definitive guide to the first of 3 essential qualities of your dream job.
Who here loves to be managed?
Being an employee means you’ll be managed. There’s no two ways about it. The traditional view of management is that the more rigid the system, the more reliable the results will be.
But who does this model benefit? Certainly not the people doing the work. Daniel Pink asserts that, “our basic nature is to be curious and self-directed.” But management isn’t recognizing this need of yours, and it really ought to.
Pink cites several studies which show that autonomy in the workplace produces:
- greater conceptual understanding
- better grades
- enhanced persistence
- higher productivity
- less burnout
- greater levels of psychological well-being
And “businesses that offered autonomy grew at four times the rate of the control-oriented firms and had one-third the turnover.”
Who here loves to be managed? Nobody does. And it just doesn’t work.
The 4 T-Essentials of Autonomy
#1 – Task
Instead, imagine having almost a full week every month to work on whatever you wanted to. And imagine that, when you were all finished, your boss loved it. Sounds like a dream, right?
Try working for Atlassian, 3M, or Google. Companies like these regularly schedule 20% of employees’ time for whatever the employees want. One Google engineer, Alec Proudfoot, remarks, “Just about all the good ideas here at Google have bubbled up from 20 percent time.” On that list are popular services like: Gmail, Google News, Orkut, Google Talk, Google Translate, and more.
You know you’re just brimming with great ideas, perhaps very profitable ideas. You just need the freedom to pursue them.
#2 – Time
“Ever wonder why lawyers, as a group, are so miserable?” asks Dan Pink.
It mostly comes down to the fact that at the core of law firms is the most mechanistic business model imaginable: the billable hour. Imagine an inventor like Thomas Edison or an actor like George Clooney billing hourly. Imagine a painting race between Picasso and Dali. It would never work. Autonomy over your own time is the key to creative growth. ”If the billable hour has an antithesis, it’s the results-only work environment,” summarizes Pink.
SearchMarketMe Agency Owners typically charge their clients on a per-project basis, or on a monthly retainer contract. Both models are perfect examples of a results-only work environment. You’re accountable for results, but you set your own schedule and you get the work done when you want to.
#3 – Technique
Do you ever feel like a cog in the machine?
To best illustrate a lack of autonomy, take the example of a call center representative. With conversation flowcharts, scripts, and quotas, they are little more than a cog with a voice.
Yet companies like Zappos.com, JetBlue, 1-800-Flowers, and even the IRS let their customer service reps work from home, which means no commuting, and nobody peering over your shoulder and watching your every move. Employees have autonomy over their own technique.
Likewise, Dan Pink notes that “Zappos consistently ranks as one of the best companies for customer service in the United States…roughly equal to ritzy brands like Jaguar and the Ritz-Carlton.”
Most SearchMarketMe Agency Owners start out their businesses working right from the comfort of their own homes. For client meetings, they go to the client or otherwise meet at a neutral location, like a luncheon out. It works for their clients, and they absolutely love it.
#4 – Team
Unlike Whole Foods, very few companies allow the employees to choose their own coworkers. ”Enterprising souls might be able to scratch out some autonomy over task, time, and technique — but autonomy over team is a taller order,” says Pink “That’s one reason people are drawn to entrepreneurship — the chance to build a team of their own.”
Now we come full circle. Maybe you’ll find a company that lets you choose a project or two of your own. Maybe you’ll be held acc0untable for results instead of hours. Maybe you can even work from home.
But where on earth will you find all of those?
Only you know the best path for you to be more productive, more successful, and more satisfied with your work. You need the freedom to direct yourself. You need the autonomy to walk that path.
World-famous marketing guru Seth Godin said it best, “As an entrepreneur, I’m blessed with 100% autonomy over task, time, technique, and team.” SearchMarketMe Agency Owners have the added benefit of a Network of over 100 like-minded marketing professionals. So they can collaborate, outsource, and choose who to work with and how.
To learn more about the SearchMarketMe internet marketing Agency Owner program, check out our website at www.SearchMarketMe.com. To receive our Opportunity Overview document, to schedule a personal walk-through of the program, or to sit in on one of our classes, feel free to email kristib@searchmarketme.com or give us a call at (206) 201-2320.
Check back next week for “Your Dream Job is Not A Job – Part 2 of 3: Mastery”
Check out Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Will Rak
Director of Education
