How Many “E’s” are in Your Work?

Here’s a humble introduction, dear readers, to what I like to call The 3 E’s of Employment, as well as the significance of getting to the final “E”.

E #1 –  EXPERIENCE

How do you get experience? By doing it, of course. We are constantly gathering experience in one area or another. It is often a requirement for a position – “5 years experience in a related business setting,” etc. Doing things over and over again will create experience. You can then tell people, “I have 10 years experience in retail management,” or in whatever you have been doing. My critical question here is – “Just because you have done it before, does it mean you want to do it again?!” Many would be pleased to eliminate what they have done from consideration of what they want to do next in their career. Translation – “Been there, done that, have the T-shirt.” Experience has value, but it’s simply not enough.

E #2 – EXPERTISE

Expertise comes from experience. In most situations, if you do something long enough, you get good at it. That’s Expertise, whether it is in use of specific software applications, calming upset customers or trouble-shooting an ailing piece of equipment. You can’t help but improve if you do it day in and day out.  So, all of this Experience you are compiling will eventually promote some level of  Expertise as well. But wait! Just because you are good at it, does this mean that you must do it for the rest of your working life (I think you know the answer!)? I have solid math skills, but trust me, you don’t want me to do your taxes! Just as is the case in Experience, Expertise has limited value as well.

E #3 – ENTHUSIASM

NOW we are talking! Enthusiasm (the etymology is Greek, literally en theos, or “in God”) is where we all should be targeting our energies. Similar to what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (chick-sent-me-hi) calls “Flow,” Enthusiasm has us so involved in what we are doing that we often lose track of time and space. To describe it simply as work does not do it justice! We are, to use a highly quoted word, “engaged” in what we are doing. It has value to us, employs much of what I have called  in earlier blogs our “Best Stuff,” feels significant and worthwhile. And, when combined with the first two E’s, creates the Perfect Storm of Employment.

Look at what happens when we put these 3 E’s together – I do it a lot, I am good at it ,and I am passionate about it!

What a great way to work (if we can even call it work)! The practical application of this should be a wake-up call to both employers and employees.

Let’s seek out opportunities for all of us to get the most out of our working relationships.

And banish “Hump Day” from our calendars!