Bouncing Back

When fatigue sets in, employees need to redefine their roles and craft a more meaningful path to rediscover their passion.

- Ritu Gupta Mehrish

How long should you stay in a role? While there is no right answer to this question but if you have been in a role for too long, familiarity can breed boredom!

Wendy heads business development at a major technology company. She is a seasoned leader in her early 40s and has been with the company for six years. I was introduced to her by a leader whom I had coached in the same company. As we settled into the funky office cafeteria with our coffees, Wendy shared that she had been in her present role for three and a half years. She had grown the business by almost 50 per cent year-on-year, and she and her team were very proud of this achievement. It had been a great learning experience.

However, she shared that she was beginning to feel that she was repeating her past achievements and that the steep curve she had experienced in the beginning was starting to plateau. What she said next surprised me a bit, “If I don’t do anything about it, I see myself potentially running into a leader’s block as you describe it”, she smiled. She continued, “I see a lot of inertia. I’m repeating the behaviour that has been established. The thinking process has become programmed because I have learnt the skill and I don’t challenge myself much. It’s becoming a very smooth ride; I do need attention, but I feel that I’m comfortable taking my mind of fit. This could be dangerous in so many ways because I am not challenging myself ” she asserted.