Whether you’re working in a skyscraper with severe vertigo or have a burning desire to spend more time with your dog – whatever the urge – if it’s affecting your day-to-day performance, you might be considering leaving. But how do you deal with these issues without effectively giving your boss an ultimatum?
The things that matter most to you probably won’t mean much to your company, and probably never will – not directly anyway. Instead, you can indirectly make your interests important to your boss by becoming an invaluable resource yourself. If you’re in demand, your needs are in demand: no one will want to wave you goodbye if you’ve brought in oodles of business. Performing well is a fantastic way of getting those things you personally care about to be indirectly reflected in your boss’ decision making.
Commandeer your career
Even if you think discussing the overall situation with your boss is unlikely to make a difference, finding a way to approach your boss to find out more about opportunities to work from home, to work Flexitime, or shuffle and refresh your workload are great ways to leverage the fact you’ve supported the company for a while.
However, not knowing what you can bring to the company, or what your company can do for you, can cause you to languish at work without engagement or enjoyment. Quite often the issue lie in a lack of a clear plan: establish clear personal goals and see where meeting them takes you.
The Elephant in the Room
Money. If you’re not being paid enough, you won’t be happy in your job. If you know the guy opposite is on three grand more than you for doing the same job, you’ll want to be paid more or move on.
Ultimately, the option to leave a company always exists. If parting ways could only take place within a finite window – only open every other year, for instance – part of the situation would be resolved. However, with boundless freedom to leave and start afresh somewhere new, encouraged by a constant tide of messages from recruiters, having a bit of discipline when it comes to sticking it out can go a long way.
Most important is to establish your own personal boundaries: what you’re happy with, unhappy with, where you’d like to improve. Salary should be thought of as a foundation from which these less tangible needs are met. Ultimately, success in business is about working with the right team: do your best to buck trends in recruitment and decide for yourself where – and with whom – your time would be best spent.
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