Should you quit over a promotion?
“If I don’t get senior manager this year, I am DONE with this company!”
Well that settles THAT!
Her mind was made up.
Which meant she (felt she) had no viable option except to quit over a promotion.
Dana’s first DM pretty much summed it up.
“I don’t know what to do because I’ve done everything and nothing is working, but I’m serious. If I don’t get senior manager this year, I am DONE with this company! Can you help me?”
That first DM was a bundle of tells.
6 dead ends, 1 door.
Absolutes are a dead end.
Curiosity is an open door.
Should you quit over a promotion?
🛑FULL STOP
This is a dangerous question that NO ONE can or should ever try to answer for you.
Because dead ends can become open doors.
Dana was all about getting senior manager.
Before we even got on Zoom, her DM told me she’d likely been promoted before.
💭How did that go? How long ago was it? What were the conditions, the criteria? What was the outcome.
Every question leads to more questions.
👆This is a good thing.
Dana’s DM read like a book.
Her professional satisfaction was being hamstrung by her own doing.
She was tying it to a conditional requirement (getting a promotion). The only thing this did was increase her unhappiness by giving away her power and control in the situation.
Once we got on Zoom, I asked her to read it with me.
“I don’t know what to do …”
Yes, you do. You just can’t see it just yet – we’ll fix that.
“… I’ve done everything …”
No, you haven’t. It’s ok. No one in the known history of mankind ever has, but we all think we have.
“… nothing is working …”
You sure about that? Really? Nothing? Not one single thing?
“… I’m serious.”
I believe you.
“If I don’t get …”
Nope.Nope.Nope. Hard no here.
The product of an ultimatum is generally one you don’t want. So, let’s try that again.
“They moved our department …”
EEEERCK – now we’re onto something.
Organizational changes.
‘THEY moved’
👆Unexpected or possibly poorly-executed organizational changes??
That piece of information was missing from the 6 dead ends and 1 door.
It was an important piece.
Organizational changes were creating new dynamics, expectations, narratives, questions.
But were they?
All by themselves?
…
Dana’s issue (that promotion) wasn’t the issue.
She’s not looking to ‘get’ anything. She’s looking to feel something.
Seen.
Valued.
In the new structure.
Now we’re cookin’ with gas!
—
💥💥YOUR TURN: How sure are YOU about what you’re sure about?
Before being asked should you quit over a promotion, go deeper to find out what’s really important to you that’s associated with it first.
::: How are you positioning yourself? :::
Photo: A woman with dark, curly hair sitting with eyes closed, pinching the space between her eyes in frustration. Next to her is the Career Insights Consulting logo and the words To quit or not to quit is NOT the question
———————–
👋I’m Gretchen
👉I am a career and personal development strategist on a mission to teach you to do what you love without losing yourself.
🎯Sane strategies. Serious results.
📰Get insights (like these), actionable tips and freebies in my newsletter