Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. – Og Mandino
A manager and a sales representative stood looking at a map on which colored pins indicated the company representative in each area. “I’m not going fire you Wilson,” the manager said, “but I’m loosening your pin just to emphasize the insecurity of your situation.”
Longevity in the workplace. It’s more of a challenge now than at any other time. I was thinking about this recently after having a conversation with a friend of mine who’s enjoyed a very successful career in the same profession he started out in. “I’m thinking about retiring in another year or two,” he said. “Then what?”, I inquired. “We’ll see,” he said, “but thirty years in the same job is enough.” Is it?
The dynamics of longevity in the workplace is changing. And for each generation, it looks different.
Writing for thebalancecareers, Alison Doyle provides some great insight into longevity in the workplace. Dean states, “ Fuzzy definitions aside, the average person changes jobs an average of 12 times during his or her career.”
What about you? What’s been your story?
Doyle continues, “Many workers spend five years or less in every job, so they devote more time and energy transitioning from one job to another. In January 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the median employee tenure was 4.3 years for men, and 4.0 years for women.”
With such high turnovers in the workplace, how do you know when it’s time to go or whether to stay? What factors drive the decision?
Can you still be effective in your chosen profession after being in the same job for 10, 20, 30 years? Absolutely! How do you know if you’ve been there too long? Here are a few warning signs to help you know if it’s time to go or if it’s simply time to recharge your batteries.
When your ideas are no longer relevant
One of the signs that maybe you’ve been around too long is that your ideas are no longer relevant or fresh. When the way you did things 20 years ago seems fine by you and you’re just stuck in the past, then it might be time to step aside or step up with some fresh thinking. Click To Tweet If you have no fresh ideas then it begs the question of whether your leadership is still relevant to the people you lead.
When change is not welcomed
Every smart leader knows how to adapt to change and welcomes it. To be sure, not every change will guarantee success, but it’s a guarantee that by never changing you will stay where you are. How open and receptive are you to new ideas? Do you seek out and welcome fresh ideas and new ways of doing things? So long as you have a mindset of “this is the way we’ve always done things,” then your leadership is stagnant and so is the health of your organization. Click To Tweet
When you stop growing
As a leader, your personal growth and development is your key to longevity. So long as you are learning, growing, and retain a growth mindset then you are can be just as relevant as you were the first day you walked in on the job. But when you stop growing and developing as a leader it becomes a sign that your influence is not as constructive as it once was.
When you protect tradition at the price of progress
This warning sign is the most difficult to own up to and can be the hardest to overcome. Your years of sacrifice and giving hasn’t come without cost. When you have given of yourself in unselfish ways it can be hard to admit that you may now be at a place where you are a guardian of the past and not a leader for the future. Some soul searching is in order. What tradition from the past are you holding onto at the expense of your future?
None of these warning signs have to be fatal. Your most useful and productive days can still be in front of you. But you must be honest with yourself and the people you lead to know just how long is too long.
©2019 Doug Dickerson
