Congruency In Work, Personal & Societal Dimensions Is The Key To Effective Performance On The Job

The fact is optimal performance on the job or in life, can only come when each of the three dimensions of work, personal and societal are congruent. That is, for a person to operate at his or her highest effective potential, they must in each of these three dimensions, be good at what they do, they must enjoy doing it, and they must feel a sense of fulfillment while it’s being done.

When a person has reached a degree of success that they are happy with in one of the dimensions, he or she is considered to have achieved one‑dimensional success. While this is possible, and happens all the time, it is not often that a person finds true “two­-dimensional success,” and extremely rare to find someone who has achieved genuine “three‑dimensional” success.

Using psychological tests, the Institute For Behavioral Effectiveness in their evaluation of more than 1,500 participants analyzed those subjects’ perception of success in the three dimensions: Work, Personal and Societal. What they found, was:

80 percent of those studied did not enjoy their work.

Even though most of them worked hard for their employers or at their jobs, and performed well, they perceived their work as being “non-” or “minimally­ contributory.” That is, they felt that while the work they were doing may be significant; they were capable of doing more… making a greater contribution.

60 percent were not satisfied with their personal lives.

Many of these people considered themselves to have successful careers, enjoyed their jobs, and had satisfying relationships with others; they seemed fulfilled in those dimensions. When asked to find adjectives to describe themselves, many had a difficult time finding positive descriptors or were very conservative when selecting them. They felt that others were more capable than themselves in a variety of categories.

86 percent felt there was at least one relationship that needed mending or strengthening.

Nearly everyone had work to do in this area. In some cases, a mean word was said to a family member before leaving for work or school. In others a long-standing feud was unsettled. In every case, however, the results were energy‑sapping, and caused the person to lose effectiveness in one of the other dimensions.

Improvement Or Enhancement In One Dimension Positively Affects The Other Dimensions

Working with a select number of individuals from the study group, researchers found that if a person could improve in at least one of the three dimensions… any one, it didn’t matter which… the other two dimensions would automatically show improvement. Here is how they did it. A list of tasks were developed and divided into two groups; those that were performed on a routine or predictable basis and those that occur randomly or unpredictably. The tasks include those that are:

1. Work related

2. Family related

3. Personal

4. Social/Community

5. Religious

Next, seven different Categories of Expertise were identified. They are:

1. Unskillful / Unenjoyable

2. Unskillful / Enjoyable

3. Skillful / Unenjoyable

4. Skillful / Enjoyable

5. Excellent

6. Expert

7. Unique The definitions of the Categories of Expertise are as follows:

Unskillful / Unenjoyable

Tasks you are not good at, nor are you interested in. For example: Some people don’t understand or enjoy working with income taxes. While taking additional courses, classes or training may help you develop a certain amount of competence in an area you don’t enjoy, continuing to work in this area may very well result in frustration, consume valuable time and move you further away from your goals.

Hiring a CPA who is not only good at working with taxes, but who also enjoys number crunching may be a more workable solution, and can free you up to spend more time on tasks you enjoy and are good at.

Unskillful / Enjoyable

These include things you are not good at, but you have an interest in. For example: You may have an interest in computers and learning all the latest software programs, but you may not be real good at mastering them.

No matter how much you may enjoy the task, if you either don’t have the time, the patience, the talent or the inclination to develop the necessary level of expertise, the learning curve may prove to be too costly for you to pursue.

Skillful / Unenjoyable

These are tasks you may be good at, but have no desire in doing. For example: You may do a great job at washing your car or mowing your lawn, but you don’t enjoy doing those tasks. Having a car wash or lawn service handle those jobs, can free you up to do more of the things you enjoy.

Skillful / Enjoyable

Some tasks you are good and you also enjoy doing them. You can derive a certain amount of satisfaction from doing these things, but you need to weigh just how good you are at doing them.

If you are only competent (or good) at them, perhaps your time could be better spent in other areas. On the other hand, if you really enjoy (are interested in doing) them, you may be willing to sacrifice the quality of the job you do for the benefit of the enjoyment.

Excellent

Some things you do very well, and because of that you enjoy doing them. Or perhaps, because you enjoy doing these tasks, you happen to do them very well. Regardless of the order, you do an excellent job, and the rewards and satisfaction you receive makes you want to continue doing them.

Expert

Very few people in life or in business can be considered true experts. However, once in a while, you encounter a person who does things better than nearly anyone else. This person usually receives a great deal of satisfaction from doing their chosen work, and is most often very handsomely compensated.

As you move clockwise from top to bottom around the circle in the illustration above, things become easier, more enjoyable, and your effectiveness increases. However, Massive success in any area of your life can only be realized when you’re operating from a position of…

Your Own Uniqueness

This is a place where no one else can come. You and you alone, can occupy this position. This is where you do things that can’t be duplicated by anyone else.

Often starting your own business is a solution to finding your own happiness in these three dimensional areas.