Warning! 3 Must-Ask Questions to Ask Yourself Before Quitting Your Job
Author: Nicky J. Davies |
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Categories: Business Fast Track
“I can’t bear it any more, I quit!” said Ann as she stormed out the room fully intending to write her resignation letter. Angry and frustrated with the situation, she found herself sitting in front of her laptop, her fingers hovering over the keys ready to write her letter, but hesitating at the same time.
This kind of frustration doesn’t happen overnight. That sense of feeling unheard, being insignificant and a loss of meaning and purpose in your work has built up over time, just like it had for Ann. But it is not the whole story and therefore, probably a lop-sided perspective.
When your emotions run high and you are frustrated and maybe in conflict with your manager, it can feel like everything with your job is just wrong and its time to leave. You naturally gravitate to colleagues who share your view of things which fuels your emotions even more. But leaving right now may not be in your best interests, especially if you don’t have another job to go to.
It can take time to find another role and the financial pressure of unemployment is very stressful. It is important to take all of this into account when making the decision to quit, and ensure you are not acting purely on emotion.
So, don’t write that resignation letter just yet. There are three questions to ask yourself before you quit your job:
1. What do I value in a job and how far does this job currently meet them?
Being clear about what is important to you in your career and assessing what extent these are currently being met is a great starting point to get a more balanced perspective, and get clarity on what you are looking for in a new job if you do decide to leave. Your list may include things such as; freedom to work how you want, expert status, personal development and growth, being appreciated at work. We have a worksheet you can use to help you – ask me for access.
Look at which values are being met and which ones are not and why. You will probably find that some of your key values are being met, and for those that are not ask yourself, what actions could you take to improve the situation?
We often avoid having a conversation with our manager about these things because we assume that nothing will change. They may surprise you! For example, a senior manager I worked with was becoming increasingly frustrated because she felt undervalued by her Director and that he was blocking her development.
She felt ready to conduct high level presentations with senior leaders in the organisation but had never communicated this to her manager, the Strategy Director. She just assumed he wasn’t interested in her having that kind of access to the business leaders. I encouraged her to have the conversation, and when she did, she was surprised that he said ‘yes’ and was clear that he wanted her to become more familiar with the key financials for the business so she could present a story to the senior leaders. After a couple of months of preparation, she delivered her first presentation to senior leaders and received great feedback from them and her Director.
2. Have I gone as far as I can with this company?
If you feel you have been passed over for promotion, or that you have gone as far as you can in the company then a new job might be the opportunity you are looking for to progress your career. But again, you need to weight things up. What is the culture of other companies or organisations? Do the research and find out whether there is a fit with what you are looking for.
It may well be that having conversations with your manager or Human Resources Department about lateral opportunities as well as more senior roles in other departments may be helpful and uncover opportunities. Another senior manager I have worked with had become disillusioned with her role. She had been managing support services for a number of years and had grown tired of it. She started researching other roles within the company and found that she actually enjoyed her role more than she would similar roles in other departments. With a renewed sense of energy and commitment, she started to engage more fully with her role and her people. This was noticed by her manager and HR, and she was given an additional team to manage and promoted. She loves the new challenge.
3. Am I ready and willing to start over?
What is the context of your situation? What obligations do you have financially, medically, family-wise? Starting over is a big decision and involves not just you but your family too so the context of your particular situation needs to be considered.
Think about the complete package of salary and benefits you are on at the moment. Check the competition and more senior roles, are you likely to get the same benefits that you have right now? Eg. The amount of leave available to you, flexible hours, healthcare, education…. It may be that you are funding your kids through college / university right now so taking a pay cut to start over is not going to work for you. Do your research on salaries for similar roles and more senior roles in other companies.
One manager I worked with did the research and found that he was actually paid more than his peers in more senior roles in other companies. And he had a better package of benefits too. His ideas of leaving soon changed and he focused more on what he could do to improve the situation at work, as well as his own mindset. Part of his solution was to make personal changes to his life outside of work too, joining in with team sports so he felt fitter and made more friends.
The learning from all three stories is:
- Get a balanced perspective on your situation.
- Question your assumptions and be prepared to have the conversation with your manager.
- Do the research and be willing to take action
- Get creative and see where you can make changes beyond your work life
- And if it still sucks – prepare to leave! We pick this up in the future articles!!
Deep down we all want to grow and move forward in our lives. Addressing what is making us unhappy is important, but we owe it to ourselves to see the bigger picture and question our own assumptions. Step up and challenge yourself. Do the research, have the ‘difficult’ conversation and be willing to take action. Whatever happens, you will grow from this experience and make decisions from a much more balanced perspective.
I works with managers who are unhappy with their current career situation, helping them make the changes needed to fall back in love with their lives.
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