Your "Stay or Leave" Equation

Your "Stay or Leave" Equation

 

By David G. Jensen, Search Masters International, Sedona, Arizona 

Let's discuss loyalty, but not the kind you might be thinking of. Some of our most popular columns on the internet have emphasized team and company loyalty. Other columns have described in detail the process that new supervisors must go through to motivate and encourage employees. This time, however, I want to talk about self-preservation -- and loyalty to good old number one. 

I remember when my father, a 40-yr. veteran of technical management at General Electric, would come home and complain about the "new engineers." He was referring to those on his team who didn't seem quite as committed to the company as he was. These young professionals grew up in a different age, when shifting loyalties affected the way that employees viewed their companies. At this same time, companies were rapidly moving to the concept of a disposable workforce. 

My father would ask "Where did the concept of loyalty go?", frustrated by attitudes that he saw from both his team as well as from top management. Layoffs ("rightsizings") became the order of the day for his company and so many others. He was offered an early retirement package and decided to take his frustration out on the golf course. 

One of my friends at Drake Beam Morin, a major force in corporate outplacement, describes the modern concept of loyalty: "What we see nowadays in the biotechnology company is not the company flag waving," says Prue Hoppin of the D.C. branch of this firm. "Instead, it is what we call `situational loyalty,' where people are held together by team or project loyalties, perhaps fostered by group leaders and not by company presidents." 

But what about the other kind of loyalty -- the kind of loyalty that doesn't get spoken of or written about nearly as much? Is there a time and place to wave the flag of allegiance to oneself? What happens when this `situational loyalty' breaks down, and it is just not possible or practical to keep the company's best interests first? 

Five Scenarios in Which #1 Should Be #1 

I hope you are not from the old-school-of-thought about recruiters. Some people still believe that headhunters lurk around the potted palms at meetings, sowing seeds of company disloyalty. Most good recruiters will go to the opposite extreme. I like to know about what efforts a candidate has made to fit in -- how they feel about loyalty to their team and company -- because I need to feel comfortable about their fit with my client. Those who have consistently been more loyal to themselves than their organizations over the years are generally not the best candidates. 

There are certain situations, however, in which self-preservation has to be the strongest instinct -- scenarios which many of us have encountered that take all of the personal loyalty that we can muster to break free of. Here are some examples: 

The Bad Boss 

John could feel it coming. Another ranting and raving review of the poor progress on the therapeutic project. As the team began to assemble in the meeting room, he looked over the faces of his colleagues. Their boss, the Director of Process Development, was known to be the most critical and difficult-to-work-with person in the company. Despite the long hours and many successes that they've had along the way, he was never satisfied. John had seen most of his co-workers lose their excitement in their work, and if he stayed much longer in this company, he felt that he too would become a victim of this terrible supervisor. 

It's easy to understand why people want to stay with a good boss. After all, there is nothing better to help make one's work life enjoyable. Why some people have a hard time leaving a bad boss is much more difficult to understand, however. Dr. Jacqueline H. Plumez, who wrote the excellent book "Divorcing A Corporation" says that this is because bosses can become surrogate parents. 

"The complex relationships between bad bosses and their subordinates are often an extension of childhood struggles," says Dr. Plumez. "Boss-parents can push the same buttons your real parents did. You might find yourself caught up in an endless cycle of seeking praise and approval, for example." 

Reaching The Plateau 

Despite the many successes she had seen in this job, and her love for the science, Jingli felt that it was like seeing "Gone With The Wind" for the fourteenth time. She knew what was around every corner. There was absolutely no adventure left. After six years of the same assays, the same projects, and the same daily grind, she felt ready to go to sleep on the job. Jingli had approached the Human Resources department and her supervisor several times over the last three years to find some new way in which her skills in analytical chemistry could serve the company. Their answer had been to promote her to Research Scientist II, which meant a bump in pay. But the job, and the plateau she was on, seemed to be the same despite the additional dollars in her paycheck. She had to find a way to achieve job happiness once again. 

As we've mentioned before in our web site, it is not money that is at the root of most job changes. Instead, recruiters typically hear that the job has "lost its challenge" or that a candidate is seeking to "break free of a rut." People who have spent years developing a specific area of expertise find that they need to be learning something new throughout each stage of their career. When the learning process slows and the job becomes more and more repetitive, trouble begins. 

Every job has its mix of challenge situations along with those that require a mastery that comes from repetition. If you've found yourself on this plateau recently, looking at tasks that offer only the opportunity for more repetition, you would be smart to consider making a job change before your senses become permanently dulled. 

White Shirts Versus Birkenstocks 

When the new CEO was brought in George felt a sense of excitement. "Now we are really going to take off," he had thought at the time. "This guy's a Merck executive. He'll know exactly what it will take to get this company off the ground." Certainly some changes were made in short order that felt quite promising. But what George didn't expect was the corporate culture clash that erupted a few months later. Many of them, himself included, enjoyed the early days of the company and the casual approach to doing business. Long hours in jeans and sweatshirts had turned into 9 to 5 in a labcoat and tie. On top of that, a creeping bureaucracy had set in. One day he found himself needing four signatures to order media. At that moment, he knew that he had to get back to a company culture in which he would be comfortable. 

Our whole industry seems to be going through one gigantic culture clash right now. There are large corporations going through huge mergers on the pharmaceuticals front. These merger/acquisitions have put thousands of people into an environment in which the culture clash is evident daily. In biotechnology companies, new managers from outside the company can bring a "big company" feel to firms that have only 100 or 200 employees. This happens all the time. 

When this clash of "white shirts" managers and "birkenstocks" employees occurs, there is almost no middle ground. You feel comfortable on one side or the other of this division and it may not be until you change companies that you can regain your happiness at work. 

Politics and Power 

Jane loved her job. She was in a fast-moving, exciting biotechnology company with over a dozen products in the pipeline. She couldn't imagine a better situation for a business development person with a love of deal-making. The company's niche was hot right now, and everyone wanted a shot at licensing their delivery technology for other applications. Sadly, though, she felt as though she were at the end of her potential at the company. Her boss, the COO and Executive VP, had played politics with the board and was now out of a job. The CEO had scheduled a meeting with her to question her loyalties. Through no fault of her own, she was now "branded" in the eyes of her new boss. She wouldn't lose her job immediately, but somewhere down the road she could be considered the next "designated scapegoat." 

Every company has some degree of politics being played out. Despite the fact that many people are indeed fired for being on the losing side of a political battle, recruiters believe that more are terminated for not playing politics. In this example, although Jane wasn't a willing participant in her boss's gamesmanship with the board of directors, she was close enough to it to have been left with an image that she doesn't think will suit her well for future growth. It's time for her to get into a new company and start again with a fresh reputation. 

Colette Conroy, a Fortune 500 outplacement consultant, says "People who find themselves in this situation often haven't made any political alliances. They think that there's something wrong with it. They feel it is slimy even to have an occasional lunch with the `right' people who will help them succeed." 

The Proactive Approach 

The merger was only in the rumor stage, and already the project meeting had turned to talk of possible layoffs and job duplication. Somesh could sense the group dividing between those who were going to "hang in there" and pray for their job or a severance package, and those who, like him, would take the proactive approach and get out before it all hit the fan. His boss took a moment to bring the group back on track and mentioned how in these situations it was very important to think about getting the project moved along successfully. There would be plenty of time to consider personal options, he said, if and when any announcement would be made about a merger. Somesh made a mental note to touch up his resume that evening. 

It goes without saying that being proactive is far better than waiting to be kicked out of the nest. Despite this, thousands of people affected by today's downsizings, mergers, and acquisitions have waited until they have heard the "company line" before drafting a resume. This is like suspecting that you have termites in your home because you see sawdust everywhere, but waiting until the roof falls in on you one night before calling the exterminator. 

Being proactive is a state of mind. Through lots of practice, I've become an expert at it -- even though to my friends it sometimes seems as if it I have crossed that fine line into paranoia. Still, I'd rather be proactive and ahead of the pack than to be at the tail end of the line and wondering how everyone else got there first. 

In conclusion 

I believe that a strong loyalty to the people you work with will be one of the reasons why you will succeed long-term in the biotechnology industry. Our companies are interdependent organizations that rely on loyalty to both one's boss as well as to our co-workers. However, from time to time it is important that we review our "leave or stay equation" with an open eye for ourselves. 

Don't you think that you owe it to yourself to be true to `number one' on occasion? 

Author: 

Dave Jensen
500 Foothills South, Suite 2
Sedona, AZ 86336 

To reach Search Masters International, contact
career@searchmastersinternational.com
(630) 663-9140 

Contact the author for reprint permission:
david_g_jensen@yahoo.com