30. 6. 2015 – What to acknowledge before leaving company

Recently I have read the article about five main reasons why employees leave company. They were as follows from no. 5 to no.1.

• No recognition & reward
• Meaningless work
• Bureaucracy & politics
• No career path
• Their manager

It’s absolutely fine to leave the company because one of the mentionned or any other reasons. It’s natural to make changes in our lives. However before you make a step out from “your” company, you have to be sure that you have taken a lesson. Deep understanding and acceptance of what is going on in your current workplace is crucial for your next career steps.

If change of the company is only an escape, you will be most probably facing similar situation in your new career as well. I had a client who wanted to leave her job to be more satisfied. After working together, she found out, that new company wouldn’t make her more satisfied and she had to find out satisfaction inside of herself. Usually outer change will not bring you benefits if you don´t  go through inner change.  Then your leaving will be peaceful like quiet lake, without rancour and sense of injustice.

Let’s imagine  you work for a great company. You like company´s vision, you share same values, you like your colleagues and product or service “your” company provides. Simply, You don’t want to leave the company,  but…

Often we don’t receive recognition & reward when we are not able to give it even to ourselves. People around us are like a mirror  showing us what we don’t want to see.  How often do you give recognition to yourself? When was it last time and for what?  How difficult is it for you and what makes it difficult? How often do you give recognition to your peers, your wife or husband, children, friends, your boss and even people you don’t know?  During my workshops and seminars I see how difficult it is for people to give true recognition. Usually  it’s a  bit easier to appreciate others but when it comes to ourselves… Just try to observe (only observe not judge) how often you give recognition especially to yourself and how do you feel.

Meaningless work. This seems to be a fair reason to leave the company. But on the other hand, it could very good reason to stop and think what does meaningful work means to you. How do you find out that the job is meaningless for you? What does it mean for you? What attributes company and job must have in order to be meaningful for you? Which values do you miss? There is always something to learn. What you can learn from having meaningless work? How could you find purpose in what you do? Answering these questions  at least  helps you to find your dream job, otherwise leaving the company it´s just wasting of your time and energy.  If there was no other option for meaningful work, how would you find purpose in current one?

Bureaucracy & politics. From my experience, both of them are very difficult to change, because they have roots in company´s culture. If you can’t change something, you need to leave it or accept it.

Before leaving, ask yourself few questions. How is it for you in general to accept what annoys and disturbs me? How could I change my point of view and not loose my energy anymore? How does it help me to fight with bureaucracy and politics? How can I find at least small area where the system can help and support me? What would be the very best way how to handle politics?

Unless there is only you and your boss in the company, there is always career
path. If others are being promoted, there is definitely potential for your grow as well. In general, we don’t use our maximal potential at work and the key question is how you can maximalize it? What are areas for your improvement? Do you consiously and regularly work on your personal and professional development? How do you communicate in “your ” company the direction of your career grow? How are you open for different opportunities, in different fields, in different locations? How you could create your path within “your” company? How would you rate your mobility?

Your manager, boss, chief, however you wish to call him. On one hand, he is the main reason for leaving the company for majority of employees. On the other hand, he is one of the greatest learning opportunities.  More than in any other working relationship, he is your great mirror due to the hierarchy aspect of organisational set up. You simply have to find the way how to handle your relationship with him. Do you consider your manager as incompetent? What about your competency? Is he open enough ? What about  your openness towards him/her? Does he have  any capabilities you like (maybe you would like to be similar)  and at the same time  they irritate you? Find what irritates you the most on him or her and have a deep look inside of you. What did you find interesting or important for your personal grow?