Disappointment over management

QUESTION: HAVING worked in an organisation for years and contributed to its growth by implementing almost all the systems, without any external training, I decided to resign. I was, however, very disappointed that the management team never enquired as to my reason for wanting to leave. Now I am very hesitant to seek employment with any other start-up company as I fear a repeat of the same treatment bearing in mind this was never the only one. Thanks for your opinion on the foregoing.

– Patricia CAREERS: Thank you for your question. Your problem seems to be threefold.

In the first case, you did not contribute to the company and implement the systems for the company purely for its own sake. And you did not do it for the intrinsic benefit, or the good feeling of doing it.

It seems you did not enjoy the process for its own good. If you did, you wouldn’t even notice that the management team did not ask you why you decided to leave, in the first place.

Your satisfaction at doing a good job would make their behaviour a non-issue.

You need to notice your motivation – is it external or internal? It seems to be external, and if so, you will always be at the mercy of people who do not recognise you for the good job you are doing. They will therefore manipulate you by withholding recognition and praise to get you to perform.

The second problem with your case is that you decided to quit, and yet you are expecting your management team to ask you why. This may seem perfectly logical, until you take a deeper look. You are leaving because you’ve found important elements within the company not to your liking. They are still working at the company, so presumably they like it; or if they don’t like it, it is not enough to leave over.

RESTLESS

So why would they want you to stay? They know that people who express a desire to resign from a company will always be restless until they’ve moved on. They’ve paid you to do your job; they don’t owe you anything else. If you think they do, you are mistaken, they will think.

Third, resigning is an act of self-assertion. It is saying that you are making the case for selfresponsibility and selfaccountability. For this you must be heartily commended and encouraged. Go the full way this attitude is indicating; do not go halfway. Take responsibility for your life and your future. Do not let fear of failure, or fear of rejection or success hold you back.

This is whether you are working for someone else or you’re working in your own company. No one is going to be asking you about you, more than you. See yourself as the CEO of ‘You Incorporated’. You will find that when you become the leader of your own life, whether your boss asks you anything or not, you are okay with it.

Let me reiterate — feel the fear and do it anyway. When you decide to take the reins of life, you will be scared. But when you decide to go for it anyway, you may discover the adventure makes the little annoyance by the management team pale in comparison.