In episode 3, we introduce Bob. He will be our persona from all your stories and letters. He is changed in such a way that it will not be possible to know which company, country or person he really is.
Bob had worked almost a decade for his company, loved it, had a good network at work an was really respected. He had absolutely no intention of leaving, on the contrary, he pictured himself as a department manager. After all, he had the experience and knew that he could do the job. Being well liked by the colleauges, it was obvius that he could contribute even more after being promoted.
One day, that position was free, and Bob applied! After going through the normal process, he got the feedback that he would not be a candidate for the job. Furthermore, he got a list of arguments, a list of why not’s. And to his disappointment, there was more. He was expected to stay as a coworker and train the new department manager, since the new guy was really inexperienced.
Long story short, Bob found himself leaving a job, a company and an environment that he had loved. He is now successful somewhere else.
What can we learn here?
There are at least two lessons here, one for Bob’s manager and one for Bob. We will only talk about what Bob could learn, this giving all of us the possibility not to go through the painful dissapointment he had to.
If you, as Bob, have a dream, you think that you could do another job well, maybe the one of your manager – does the world know that? Most important, does your manager know? The point here is that if you tell people about your dream, it will be easier to get there, you will in some aspect be held accountable by your environment, which will help you get there. The other point is that if your dream is crystal clear to your manager, you should be able to know if there is support for your dream.
It might be the case that your manager can’t support the dream, which gives you the possibility to continue anyhow, to prove that he or she is wrong, or to adjust the dream and the goals. All of these choices are better than being surprised and dissapointed that the support was simply not there when the possibility was.
For sure, getting the message that your potential is not perceived in the way that you see it, that can also be dissapointing. It is still better to get that message early. That feedback, given in the right way, is a gift.
As Bob, you have to work up the trust with your manager, the trust to talk about the dream. How, start with other people. Maybe your dream is crazy. But crazy dreams sometime comes true for those who will not let them go. So, ask your self, does your manager know your most important dream? Is the support clear?
Otherwise, what is your plan now?