Yesterday I was listening to my partner talk about his work day. The news wasn’t good. The industry is in a slow period (he sells wine), his customers are giving him the you know what’s, and as for management…..

In his words - ” I just don’t know what they are doing. We seem to have no direction, and I have no confidence that they (management) know how to change things”

I think we’ve all been in this situation. My question is this. How often should you feel like this before you start to think about moving on?  There’s no doubt we all have frustrating days - days when nothing goes right or we feel like we are pushing a heavy load up a steep hill.

I think there’s two things you can do. Well, actually there’s 3 things - but the first one gives you a lousy outcome, so why choose it?

1. Do nothing. Continue to complain and undermine management when they aren’t around. Never say what you think or feel and reinforce the “us versus them” mindset so typical in companies (can you tell - not my preferred option??)
2. Recognise where you head’s at and decide to do something about it. It’s easy to feel hard done by - not as easy to initiate a conversation with your manager about your concerns and voice what’s going on for you. It might  be that your manager(s) haven’t been communicating the reasons for their decisions and actions. They may actually appreciate knowing that they aren’t doing enough in this area, and start to keep the business informed more regularly.  This is a great outcome for all parties.
3. If you have done option 2, but nothing has changed, then you have some thinking to do. If you believe that ultimately this is a short term issue, or that the situation will improve, then staying put is definitely an option. Then again, if you don’t get that feeling, perhaps it’stime to move on to another company which is more aligned with what you want.  Lisa over at Management Craft has something to say about this as well - Check it out on her blog:  So Go Already

Ultimately, we each choose what we take to work each day - and that includes our attitude. So if we decide to stay where we are, then we can choose to adopt a constructive outlook, one which doesn’t sit back passively but becomes an active and positive influence on the culture.