Stay or quit the job?
Dear e-COACH,
Seven months ago, I was hired as an Office Manager at a company that lacks systems and organization. It pays well, and I thought it would be a good challenge. It isn't. It's a pain. The G.M. is into crisis management. Everyone spends their days fighting fires and the place is a mess. I get no support to get things done that I was hired to do. In meetings, the other managers and the G.M. think my ideas for planning are a waste of time. I think they actually enjoy the adrenalin rush of all the confusion. Should I stay here or should I find another job?
Dear Office Manager,
As I see it, you have 3 choices:
- You can stay and try to improve your situation
- You can start looking for a new job or
- You can leave things as they are, thus making yourself miserable and even risking future dismissal. (I don't recommend the last option, although it is one that many people seem to choose.)
On the one hand, you might be frustrating yourself by attempting to work with people who do not share your vision of, or commitment to organization, planning and systems. You may have made a bad decision in accepting a job offer there. You could begin an active job search for something better. However, if you stay, this could be the position that you learn the most from in your entire career. It's the challenging situations, the ones that we think are impossible, that we tend to grow and build achievements from.
Only you can decide which approach is best because only you have all the facts. If you think you can work it out, meet with your G.M. and share your concerns, tactfully but clearly. Offer to help with the mayhem (don't use that word) by putting a couple of things in place that you know will get results quickly. Get his agreement, and go do it. If you've chosen something that contributes in the short term, you will have started to build your credibility with the G.M. and the other managers.
I would move on this decision quickly if I were you. If you are not happy with them, they may not be happy with you either and you could find yourself with a whole new set of problems.
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