No one wakes up in the morning to be a quitter. But sometimes you have quit without even knowing that you have done so. This isn’t another article about moving on, stagnating or moving up. It is an article about stepping up and realizing you have already quit your job. It is about recognizing the grave disservice you are doing to yourself, your team, and the organization by staying. The following are five signs that you have already quit your job.
You stop holding people accountable to the mission, vision, and values of the organization.
Failure to adhere to the missing, vision, and values of the organization is the greatest tragedy of all. When the people you lead lose sight of the mission, vision, and values of your organization because you stop holding them accountable to them, the culture starts to become toxic. Doing this means you have removed the “why you do it” from the equation. You have stopped creating a healthy culture and have started destroying it.
You stop teaching and just let people be.
We teach others best when we are engaged. When you have lost your passion, you start to lecture rather than engage or, worse, stop showing them altogether. You stop getting others excited and stop leading them to the best they can become. You are headed down the mediocrity path and taking them along with you.
You hold back proposing that idea you think is the next best thing for your organization.
You sit in meetings trying to solve a problem or figure out ways to improve. A brilliant idea flashes in your mind, but you stay silent. You lean out and let others engage in debate and brainstorming. You have stopped contributing.
You give in too easily / stop fighting for what is right.
You find yourself saying “yes” or “OK” more than you say “no” or “why.” The problem with this is that no matter how good or bad the request is, you agree to it. Sometimes that will work out, and sometimes it won’t, but either way, it probably isn’t something you should gamble on. You have stopped caring.
You avoid interacting with your peers unless absolutely necessary.
The only time you see your peers is in a meeting. You avoid the break room. You “sneak” into work and “sneak” back out. The only conversation you engage in is superficial. You are disengaged.
Doing any of these 5 things hurts you, your team and the company by:
The organization by slowing innovation, destroying the culture, lowering performance
Those you lead by stopping their growth. You give them a good example of a disengaged or lousy boss, modeling behavior they will likely think is OK and possibly adopt themselves, enabling mediocrity
Yourself by creating a pattern of behavior that will be hard to break if you a) snap out of it or b) move on to another organization. It stops your growth, and you lose your expertise
Spend time reflecting to see if you are doing any of these things. If you are, try to identify the root cause and work to regain the passion, drive, and love you once had for the organization and the people you lead. If you are unable to rediscover your “why,” do yourself, your team, and the organization a favor and leave before the damage becomes irreversible.
Last updated on October 18th, 2019 at 05:58 am
