Who do you work for?

Who do you work for?
Before you answer that question, please note that I have not asked “who pays your salary?”. Who you work for and who employs you are two separate questions.

Some answer the question of who they work for by citing the name of the company that pays them. Some answer by citing the name of their direct boss or a senior leader.

Usually, when someone comes to me for professional mentoring, particularly around an undesirable work situation, I can easily tell who they have a psychological contract with because their response to the situation will revolve around that person or place.

A psychological contract is an unwritten contract we all have that sets out what we think we owe the company, and what we think the company owes us.

This is why someone can start disregarding company rules or diminishing their output simply because their supervisor or leader has done so too. They have determined that the other party has not held up their end of this unwritten contract, and they respond accordingly, even if it is to their detriment.

Those who are aware that they are ultimately working for themselves (for their long-term goals, interests and aspirations) have much more solid and stable contracts because they base their motivation not on an external individual or party, but on themselves or another stable, internal source such as their family, their life goals or their purpose.

In doing so, you begin to work for yourself, even when you work for someone else. You become virtually unoffendable, because your aspirations ascend higher than your current situational obstacles.

Such individuals are virtually unstoppable. So, I ask you again: Who do you work for?

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