Sunday 14 August 2016

THE CASE OF CRUMBLING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN US AND WORK

After leaving my previous work to take some time off for travelling and working out what I want to do next, I’m facing a fear I’ve never experienced before: the fear of joining the wrong workplace. Searching for a new role, I’ve realised the particular responsibilities isn’t necessarily where my main focus lies anymore. Sure, I’d still want to be interested in the tasks and feel that I have the capacity to fulfil them, however whatever they are I know that I’d be giving 100% to get them done as thoroughly as I can. My main concern has shifted to whom I will be working for: I want to work for someone that truly believes in what they do, knows why they do it and inspires their team to commit to this journey with them. I want to be part of a team that takes their work seriously, looks out for one another, feels safe to challenge the circumstances and does this with their best intentions. Unlike knowing the type of responsibilities I’m signing myself up for when applying for a job, how can I be sure of what kind of work environment I’ll be in for?

The interesting thing is that currently I’m surrounded by people who are going through related issues: people in their “dream jobs” burning out because there isn’t enough support; people wasting time trying to piece together their available resources or keeping up with the changes because communication within the organisation is poor; people with high potential being placed in challenging roles but being provided with little to no structured development plans, mentoring or consistent feedback. All these people are really close to me and I know they take their careers seriously. Why are our relationships with our workplace breaking down?