Too many challenges or not enough – getting the job balance right
Over coffee recently I was chatting with a couple of business contacts. Neither are the kind of people prone to grumbling but on that day the conversation veered towards gloom and doom. Now I am sure all of us have found ourselves in situations where a conversation which has been going just fine takes a downward spiral and leaves everyone drained. As I had been enjoying the company of those ladies I decided to ask some questions to see where that might go instead.
The first lady – I will call her A ( imaginative, huh?) said that due to business circumstances she had had to take on some more responsibility and she was floundering. She knew the business well but had little experience of this area and needed someone to support her. But all of her colleagues were stretched and – as is often the case – the person who knew most about what she had taken on had left. As far as she was concerned her line manager’s comments about stretching for development were now really annoying her. She had started to look around for a new job.
Second lady B ( you guessed?) said that she envied A having a varied workload. She was bored rigid at work. She had a lot of work to do but of dull monotonous content that she could do in her sleep. She had asked her line manager to work with her to find opportunities to add to her current responsibilities to make it more interesting. A said that she thought B would regret doing that!
On listening to each other’s stories they realised that they thought they desired what the other had and we had a giggle about it.
OK – it is about balance of course. And it sounded to me as a somewhat impartial outsider that for each of them the balance was off. Each wanted to work with their line managers to change that and I suggested that they could chat some more to develop their respective approaches. I am interested to hear how it goes.
The moral of this story? It’s the old “grass is greener” one I guess. All of those folks who envied the high salaries of those in the finance sector might find that they are more content with their lot right now. Those who have lost their jobs might review their current situation and look for something challenging in another area. No matter what – it is certainly time to look at what you want not what other people have.
