Are you one of the ‘quiet quitters’, putting in minimal effort with your heart elsewhere? Are you frustrated that you’re not operating where you’re both passionate and proficient (see Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt)? Are you sick of your boss? Are your values out of kilter with your organisation? Are you returning to work after a career break and wary of stepping back in where you left off? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it’s probably time to act.
But, before you sign up to a recruitment agency (though 9-2-3 would love to help!), think first whether you simply need a new role in your current organisation. Sometimes, a re-evaluation of your current role, and an open and honest chat with your line manager or HR may reveal unseen opportunities which could help you get your mojo back.
Start by making a list of all the things that frustrate you. Is there anything on that list that has tipped the balance? Is it under your control to fix? Challenge yourself – think ‘what if…?’ Is it under the control of someone else to fix and if so, how might you help them to see what needs to change? Then list everything that’s good. If you could fix the frustrations, is the list of good things powerful enough to make you want to stay?
When we start to also think what we are proficient at passionate about and how much of our time at work is spent in this zone, we are narrowing in on what’s important to us. on different post-its, list out the key tasks in your job. Put aside those that belong in the proficient and passionate category – what proportion of the post-its does this represent? Then, decide approximately what percentage of your time is spent on these? What could you do to shift the balance?
Let’s not forget your boss. It’s often said that people leave their boss, not their organisation. Is that true for you? Have you spoken to your boss about what’s bothering you? Have you tried to put yourself in their shoes to understand why they are taking the steps the way they are? For example, perhaps they are always on your case, demanding to see what you’ve been doing. Maybe they do this because you are not giving them regular updates. Often, we don’t raise our concerns and by the time we do, it’s too late. If your boss doesn’t realise the impact of what they’re doing, they can’t fix it.
Sometimes, however, the work environment feels too toxic to fix. If this is the case, then try speaking to your HR manager as they may be able to help resolve the issue. When your mental health starts to suffer, you cannot ‘wait and see.’ If ‘Sunday night dread’ applies to you, then you need to act, whether that means speaking to your boss directly, to HR, and/or seeking a new job within your organisation or outside.
Very often, a missing value can be a deal breaker but sometimes we don’t realise just what a powerful impact that missing value is having on our job satisfaction. If you’re feeling fed up, disillusioned and/or frustrated an examination of your values and how they are allowed to manifest at work could provide you with illuminating insight. List the values most important to you, narrow them down to your top five, and then ask yourself, on a scale of 0-10, how much am I able to live each value at work?
The values can cover a broad base, so think of achievement values such as status and excellence, extrinsic values such as money and physical setting, intrinsic values such as happiness and autonomy and relational values such as respect and trust. Is there a ‘killer’ value, without which you cannot continue in your current job? For example, trust may be your ‘killer’ value, and perhaps now you realise that the way your line manager treats you demonstrates a lack of trust and/or you are no longer able to trust them because of behaviour you have witnessed.
By this stage, you probably have a good idea of what you want from a job, what’s working and what isn’t, and what motivates you. It’s worth sitting on these thoughts and coming back to them over a number of days, repeating the exercises, drilling deeper, letting your subconscious do its work. Sometimes it takes time for your deepest feelings and thoughts to surface.
We haven’t yet addressed those of you who are happy with the culture and values fit, but are itching to do more. You may have outgrown your role, you may be someone who craves more challenge, who needs a new adventure, and the question for you is, ‘what would it take for me to feel fulfilled?’ Armed with that knowledge, have you exploited every option with your current employer?
Now you are hopefully more aware of what you need and why, try creating a ‘well-formed outcome’ to help you understand whether your ideal role exists within or outside your current organisation. Be true to your aspirations and be realistic. Get to a level of detail that helps you to visualise your ideal job. Lynne Cooper explains in her book, Business NLP for Dummies exactly what we need to know to formulate our outcome:
Describe what we do want (not what we don’t want)
Know that we are in control and able to initiate the outcome ourselves
Describe what you want specifically and how you will know when you have it
Understand the context; i.e. where, when, and with whom you want it
Identify the resources you need, internal and external
Think about the impact on you and others (family members perhaps). I particularly like the questions here, ‘what will happen if I have this outcome’ and ‘what will happen if I don’t have this outcome.’
So, let’s assume you know it’s time for a new job. How confident are you feeling about getting a new job on a scale of 0-10? Whatever score you give yourself, why are you that confident? In other words, what strengths are you drawing on to give you that amount of confidence? What else can you think of? Then ask yourself what it would take to nudge the dial further up the scale? What would need to happen for you to be more confident?
We owe it to ourselves to find and do the job that best fits with our values, our capabilities and our aspirations. As Oliver Burkeman writes in his book, Four Thousand Weeks, we only have four thousand weeks on average in this world. Let’s make a conscious decision to make the most of them.
Natalie Gordon is a coach, leadership development consultant and Chief of Staff at Egremont Group