Is the grass likely to be any greener on the other side?
So – you're unhappy at work.
What should you do … up stakes and leave? or "communicate, tackle the issue and look for a resolution?"
Here are some of our thoughts on what can be a sensitive question in our business.
Always look first at your contribution to creating the circumstances. Ask;
What part did I play?
How clear was I in the beginning?
If you regularly switch jobs just to avoid issues, without thinking about your part in creating those issues, you rob yourself of opportunities to increase your self-awareness.
Now, as nice as this sounds, we're also realists! We know that if you're sitting in the bosses office about to tell them you're moving on, by now you will have probably put together some ‘apparently’ compelling reasons for doing it. These reasons will no doubt sound very logical and justified and you'll make the move confident that you are ‘getting away from the issues’.
The reality is though all you've really done is removed yourself from that environment.
Now in some cases the environment WILL truly be the problem due to:
- A negative culture
- Poor working conditions
- Zero opportunities for growth
- Corporate stress or simply
- Toxic human beings making your life miserable
… or of course all or any combination of the above and the new position is EVERYTHING you dreamed of … sometimes.
Often though, the new environment creates a ‘honeymoon’ period and as many of us know, the only problem with honeymoons … is they come to an end.
Pressure returns and incredibly (supposedly) many of the old issues re-appear. The whole process starts again.
If this is something that you have experienced on more than one occasion before, it might be time to focus some attention on the one factor common to all these environments … YOU.
This is a big step towards taking responsibility for making a better decision
next time. Ask yourself:
What was my role in this and what do I need to learn?
This is nothing more than building basic personal awareness and accepting what is often described as the first mantle of leadership; responsibility.
There is a big incentive here
We continue to see that people who are capable of looking within, make the greatest contributions and are therefore more highly valued.
The alternative
Most mentors and coaches believe that people can change, but my experience is, rarely does that happen without awareness. If this is true, then allowing yourself (or encouraging others) to repeat the same mistakes over and over again is akin to going backwards.
So here is a final challenging thought …
If you sense you're repeating mistakes, you might want to ask a few others what they see!
So next time you decide to quit ensure you do it for the right reasons.