When your dream job isn’t as dreamy as you thought!
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You thought you’d made a great choice and knew what you were getting yourself into when taking on a new role but, a few months in, you realise it was a mistake.
This role either doesn’t play to your strengths, or the culture doesn’t suit your working style. What can you do to turn the situation around? Read on…
Career mistakes can be costly but not if handled with maturity and sensitivity to the needs of your colleagues and your manager. Don’t over-react, instead reflect on the situation, consider what you can do to fulfil the role effectively and what the role can offer you in terms of career development. If you really feel you should move on do so by being honest with your manager, putting their needs and those of the team before your own. This way people will recognise your efforts and you’ll remain a valued colleague.
- Are you just out of your depth so far? Are you really ineffective in this role or is it more a case of feeling out of your depth? If this is the case, what support can you get from your manager or team to help you become more effective? They may be able to help you navigate the politics, take on aspects of the role you are less effective at (remember our blogs on delegation?), understand the sub-cultures of other teams, or coach you in developing skills you either don’t currently possess or have yet to master. I can think of a number of people I’ve met who got off to a very shaky start in a new role but who learnt fast and, on the hoof, enrolling others to support them in getting up to speed quickly.
- Do you need to quickly develop some new skills? Consider what skills you bring to the role. You may be able to see new ways of working that will play to your strengths and still achieve the outcomes required. If you lack certain skills what training or development can you organise to fill the gaps? This could be working alongside your team to see how they tackle issues, attending a course online or in person, or some internet research. What knowledge and experience will this role give you if you can remain in place for a reasonable time? Even jobs that are less than ideal for us can offer valuable learning opportunities and perspectives for the future.
- Is it that the bulk of the role is simply not ‘you’? This is more likely to happen early in our careers when we mistakenly think we can do anything – invincibility syndrome – or were seduced by our idea of what the role would bring us and/or the salary! But seriously, even if you did completely under-estimate what skills were required to succeed in the role, you now need to do well enough to keep your reputation, well enough to keep the team on track and well enough not to damage the relationship with your manager. So, talk to her/him about how you feel and let them know you’ve no intention of leaving them with no cover. This may end up giving you a different perspective on the role or even some additional support.
- Stay positive. Discuss with your manager what can you do to improve your performance in the short term whilst he/she considers what options there are for either re-organising the workload in a way that plays to everyone’s strengths or considers who might take over the role from you. If there isn’t a different role within the team that would suit you, being supportive of your manager is more likely to result in them appreciating your honesty, maturity and your work ethic. In turn, they may be able to help you find an alternative role elsewhere, providing a good reference or recommendation for you with other managers.
- Finally, reflect on how you got into this situation to see what lessons can be learned. What happened during the recruitment phase? Did you really investigate what the role entailed, the culture you’d be working in, how realistic the goals were for you? Or did you allow yourself to be carried along by your manager’s enthusiasm for the role and your candidature? Perhaps you were headhunted, or someone tapped you on the shoulder and advised you to look out for this coming opportunity “perfect for you”. Flattering wasn’t it, but now? Knowing what tripped you up and why will help you avoid a similar mistake in the future.
Career mistakes can be costly but not if handled with maturity and sensitivity to the needs of your colleagues and your manager. Don’t over-react, instead reflect on the situation, consider what you can do to fulfil the role effectively and what the role can offer you in terms of career development. If you really feel you should move on do so by being honest with your manager, putting their needs and those of the team before your own. This way people will recognise your efforts and you’ll remain a valued colleague.