More often than you would expect, I find competent, hard-working people trying to survive in dysfunctional organizations.
Organizations that:
Hold them back professionally by doing the ‘same old stuff’ every day.
Frustrate them continuously with bad managers who make bad decisions.
Impact their self-esteem and confidence with unhealthy management practices.
And ultimately, hurt and hinder their career dramatically. As a coach, they hire me to extricate them, develop powerful options, and deliver them to a much healthier environment.
Most relationships, especially ones with organizations, exist on a spectrum or range.
Here are the five areas:
AVERAGE
This is a normal, healthy work atmosphere where you have daily challenges and tasks to move your position and department forward. When you’re in this area, you’re happy, industrious, learning, and most of all GROWING. Many healthy organizations contribute to this environment with motivating managers who communicate frequently and ensure that you move out of your comfort zone on a regular basis.
BUSY
This is an infrequent state at companies where an emergency, new launch, or mistake occurs and you will have to pick up the pace with your associates. Our current work world exhibits these manic episodes due to a number of client, vendor, and business situations. If they start to occur weekly or daily, your environment might be moving towards Insane.
INSANE
This is the regular, manic environment of certain startups, industries (e.g., hedge funds), and badly managed organizations. It’s okay to move from Busy to Insane once in a while, but if your environment is consistently Insane, you’re working in a toxic atmosphere. These situations will ultimately burn you out, teach you bad habits, and hurt your chances of moving up or out. Many of my clients get ‘hooked’ on these situations like a drug and it takes us a few months to wean them off and venture to healthier work environments that will help them grow their career.
SLOW
This is also an infrequent state where the pace slows down a bit from the Average rhythm of work. Like the Busy state, you don’t want it to stick around too long — it will cause you to become lethargic towards work, hinder your upward growth, and ultimately make you ‘unsellable’ to other organizations. You will find Slow states happening during the holidays and summer months — this is the best time to recharge, look for new opportunities, and teach yourself new tricks.
DYING
The truth is — there are many established companies and organizations that are slowly Dying. You probably know of them and you might work for one. Symptoms of a Dying company are:
No real change in your job, department, or culture.
Less and less to do, even though there are frequent layoffs and department reorgs.
Management is dysfunctional — up is down, left is right — and they keep you guessing.
You see that the Titanic is heading for an iceberg or slowly sinking — it’s every person for themselves.
You might be comfortable now — but soon you are going to feel the sharp pain of a knife in your back (layoff) and you will have to go out into the cold, cruel world to find a new job. Unfortunately, I get a client like this and have to tell them the truth about their situation — the world has passed you by and you have to start running at breakneck speed to catch up. It’s a hard truth, but not impossible to overcome.
WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?
It’s January 2, 2020 — a new decade. Take a hard look at your organization, department, and career — is it slowly Dying? Exasperatingly Insane? Or are you getting sick and tired of the Average-Busy-Slow cycle and it’s time to find greener pastures?
THIS IS THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO MOVE.
Get out there. Meet new people. Connect with new organizations, Target new opportunities. There are so many hungry companies just waiting for you to contact them.
Just like many people this time of year will join a gym and start working with a personal trainer to change their body — many people search out a coach (like me - shameless plug) to help them move faster, better and to a much better environment.
IT’S TIME TO MOVE.