I recently spoke with the Human Resources Director of an accountancy firm. She was interested in me speaking on career mojo and employee engagement at a leadership retreat in Northern California. She specifically wanted to know how I worked with coaching clients and organizations to tap into employees’ intrinsic motivation, and enhance their career development and engagement.

The HR Director and I spoke about my approach to executive/career coaching, and the factors that can tap into employees’ mojo or positive spirit. We also spoke about the Gallup organization’s findings on employee engagement. Employee engagement has been at an historic low level. Company leaders need to tap into workers’ inherent motivation and creative drive to boost the number of actively engaged employees from the paltry 33 percent reported by the Gallup Organization.”

People want work that taps into their intrinsic motivation seeking mastery, autonomy, purpose and self-direction. Employees want their work to be meaningful in order to be happy and fully engaged. However, a number of people make career mistakes that jeopardize their career success. Enlightened organizations help people make the right career decisions.

The Human Resource Director is interested in me speaking at a workshop about my executive/career clients that have created meaningful work and are resilient and happy. She also wanted me to address how company leaders could regain their mojo, and stay engaged if they had slipped into nojo. We further discussed how organizational leaders can benefit by working with a seasoned executive coach to enhance their mojo and career satisfaction.

In Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It, leadership expert Marshall Goldsmith lists seven common career mistakes.

Common Career Mistakes

Goldsmith lists seven professional mistakes that contribute to career failures in otherwise competent, successful and smart people:

1. Over-committing
2. Waiting for the Facts to Change
3. Looking for Logic in All the Wrong Places
4. Bashing the Boss
5. Refusing to Change Because of “Sunk Costs”
6. Confusing the Mode You’re in
7. Maintaining Pointless Arguments
a. Let me keep talking. I had it rougher than you.
b. Why did you do that?
c. It’s not fair.

As you think about these potential pitfalls, try to pinpoint the ones to which you’re predisposed. I will focus on the first career mistake in this seven part article series.

I am the executive coach for the president of an accounting firm. The president’s competency-based 360 feedback survey indicated that she is over-committed. The president and I are working on improving her effectiveness by reducing the number of her direct reports, and focusing more on the firm’s vision and business strategy.

1. Over-committing

If you’re good at what you do and like your job, it’s easy to take on new challenges. You’re bursting with mojo. People want you in their meetings and on their teams.

The old adage, “If you want something done, just ask a busy person,” may apply to you. And if you’re ambitious, the last thing you want to admit to your boss or coworkers is that you can’t handle everything.

If you believe you have superpowers, you will box yourself into a corner by taking on too many tasks. At that point, the quality of work and good humor will begin to fail, and you’ll lose your mojo (and possibly much more).

Ironically, the habit of over-committing has an unintended consequence: It makes us appear under-committed — a perception rarely appreciated by customers, colleagues or bosses.

Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches are hired to provide career and leadership development for organizational leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching to help leaders sustain their career mojo? During challenging economic times, leaders at all levels need to improve their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills as part of overall career development.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I making the career mistake of over-commiting?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and career development for leaders who want to maximize their career mojo and be fully engaged at work.

Working with a seasoned executive/career coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I and Denison Culture Survey can help your people tap into their intrinsic motivation and create happy companies where people love to work. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.