Who are you when you go to work?

As someone who had regularly struggled with aligning my home/community self within the workplace (for differing reasons over the years), this is something I have asked myself many times.

Who you are at work could have something to do with your title, or your KPI’s or how efficiently you can find the answer to an employee question in policy. Or, It could be about the unique self you bring to work each day, the marriage of personal and professional. The degree that your own interests and personality get to inject themselves into the workplace and team, benefitting everyone.

This topic is one I urge everyone who interacts with others (that should be everyone) to consider. Because no matter if you’re living with intention of who you are or not, you’re sending a signal to those around you about who you are.

Some questions to ask if you’d like to dig deeper is:

• Where do you put your energy? - Realistically, this could be corporate climbing, personal success, gossip, the success of the work

• What do you actually want to offer the people around you? - A friend, a leader (we are all leaders), a strict collegue?

• Why are you in the role you're in? - Do you want to help? Do you feel aligned? Are you doing what you can do achieve the result of why you entered the industry?

You may have answered these questions in the past... but what if those answers have changed since you began in your role?

I am of the belief that we should constantly be changing. Evolution is one of my favourite concepts (Hello? Evo Workshops). But sometimes it can be challenging to reinvent within a familiar place, going to the same coffee shops, working with the same personalities, having a consistent energy pulling you back into the previous shape of yourself. It can be hard determining the direction of your intention when your environment stays the same.

I think it starts with the question, asked honestly and without too much performance: how do I want to show up in my team as I am right now?

Your identity at work isn’t and should never be fixed - you are a living thing. And your identity deserves the same intentional care we give to business strategy, to culture, to all the things we put on a roadmap.

So , who are you at work at the moment? And is it who you want to be?