Business Profile
Catherine Green is an experienced executive coach and career consultant.
She has worked at senior levels in the private and public sectors, runs her own business as well as holding non- executive positions
She is also a UKCP-accredited psychotherapist in private practice and specialises in relationship issues, depression, bereavement, loss and trauma.
Originally Catherine Green trained as a nurse and specialised in heart surgery. She feels that her qualifications which include an MSc and Clinical Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy, MA Psychology of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Certificate in Family Systemic Therapy, EMDR practitioner, SRN, CIPD grad have given her a broad background to enable her to work effectively with her clients.
Over the coming months, this column will ask what makes the workplace enjoyable and stimulating? What relationship do we have with our work and to what extent are we able to manage and improve our job and/or our workplace?
Do we get the rewards and acknowledgement that we hope for or do we feel unheard, unsupported and unappreciated?
Most people would agree that the workplace is an important part of life. Whether we like it or not we go there nearly every day. We spend more time with our work colleagues than we do with our families. It is a place where we contract to give our skills and experience in return for expected and negotiated rewards.
So why do you go to work?
If I asked lots of different people, I am sure I would get lots of different replies. However I am going to generalise and suggest that most people go to work primarily to earn money to enable them to spend it in the way they want: on their family, a partner, a hobby or themselves.
Our job may give us financial freedom, independence, status and personal growth or it may put routine into our lives that otherwise could become boring and empty.
In an unsatisfactory job however, it may feel as though there are no gains, no future and only frustrations.
Anthropologists suggest that humans are a species that like to be part of a group, and I wonder if we hope that work will meet our need to belong, to a group, a company, or a team which will then make us feel normal, wanted, needed and alive.
If we can agree that in our current society work is a necessity that enables us to meet our “hierarchy of needs” (Maslow:1971) perhaps we could next week question what do you want from work and how can you help yourself achieve those goals? If you would like to e-mail your views to me at enquiries@cgcounselling.co.uk about why you go to work I will feedback some of your comments or visit www.cgcounselling.co.uk. I look forward to hearing from you.
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