In this job market and this economy, it’s challenging to consider leaving a job. But it’s never a bad idea for any cultural manager to at least ask the question: Am I in the right place, doing the right work? CompassPoint’s Tim Wolfred offers six signs that it might be time to move on. Among them:
- I keep returning to this thought: the organization needs to go in a new direction (or to a new level) and I’m not the right person for it.
- I’m burned out and I know it.
- I don’t think I’m burned out, but other people think I am.
- I can’t stand my board anymore . . . and/or, I can’t seem to please the board no matter what I do.
- My clock is ticking.
- Family roles are calling me.
For most of the above, there are alternatives to departure — such as additional training or professional development, refreshing your perspective with your board (or refreshing your board), or redefining your job or your place within the organization. But even these take proactive identification that there’s a problem to be addressed.
Worth a read, and a ponder.
[Thanks to Barry’s blog for the link.]
About 15 years into my now-40-year career in arts management, I noticed that the average tenure of the successful non-profit CEOs (university presidents, college deans & hospital administrators in addition to leaders of arts organizations) I had encountered was about seven years. As I pondered this, I identified from my own experience four reasons for this phenomenon.
After seven years…
…You’re only being compared to yourself: the board (at least the board leadership) has turned over; the staff likely has, as well; nobody remembers how it was before you arrived, so nobody appreciates the miraculous changes you’ve wrought
…You’ve used your entire bag of tricks (at least twice) and the law of diminshing returns is setting in
…All your endearing personality traits that people enjoyed so much (in contrast to the last guy) are now starting to get on people’s nerves; and
…They (the folks on whose nerves you’re getting) are starting to p**s you off as well.
I shared this insight with a college dean once, and he added a fifth:
…You’re tired of banging you head against the same wall.
Those thoughts line up with items 2,3 and 4 on Mr. Wolfred’s wise list. I’m now in the middle of my third seven-year cycle at my current organization; and, at each turning point, I have asked myself and others, “Am I still the right guy for this job?”
So, what’s the trick to lasting longer than seven years? The answer to that is embedded in Wolfred’s items 1 and 5: Transform the organization.
If you are capable of or interested in taking the organization in a new direction or to a new level (AND that’s what the organization needs), it’s incredibly rewarding. At each turning point, I’ve found that this job, this staff, this board, this town still have something to teach me. And if I can’t find new lessons in dealing with this economy, I’m clearly not paying attention.
Am I still the right guy? Honestly, I don’t know. But I’m intensely interested in finding out.