Hey, what is going on at our nation? I am Jerry, the host of Beyond the Rut. And this is another installment of Jerry's short. These are the shorter episodes. I like to publish just past the midway mark in the week to get you through the weekend into the new Week. I almost said New Year, but we're talking about New Week in this episode. I want to talk more specifically about what do you do if you feel like you hate your job? 

I've been talking a lot lately about the leadership perspective. How do you reengage your employees? How do you get them to trust you again? Feel like their work matters and stay with you. Uh If you're the leader now, what if you're not in a leadership role and you just wake up one day and realize I hate my job rather than just quit right then and there, maybe there's more to unpack. Is it the job itself or is it an inside job that's going on uh with you? Because if it's an inside job, it doesn't matter where you work, you're gonna be the problem, the problems you haven't resolved are gonna go with you to the new place. So I often encourage folks to take a look at the five Fs. How is life going in your faith area? Uh Are you, you know, if you're, if you're spiritual, are you spending time every morning or throughout the day? Reflecting if, if you're Christian or a, a religion that prays, are you praying? Uh Are you spending some time in the foundational documents of your faith and absorbing that? And thinking about that, how does that apply to me? 

The second thing I asked folks to take a look at is their family. How is the family life going? Are you going out with your, your partner? Uh Are you engaging with your kids if you have kids? Are you connected with your extended family, your your community, those kinds of things. Uh How's your fitness doing physically, emotionally, mentally? Uh And then finances are, are you struggling with debt? Are you stressed out because of money matters? Maybe that's the underlying root cause or are you just not growing for your future? So take a look at the five Fs. Are there signs and symptoms of a rut there? Uh I know for me, one of the jobs I had left, uh I didn't realize I was in a rut. 

I, until my family talked to me and said, dad, we're worried about you and we want you back and I realized my family is, is taking a toll, taking a hit because of what I was going through in my job. My physical health and emotional health was also taking a hit. And so those were areas where I was seeing the signs and symptoms. I had to dig deeper and find out what was going on. And from there, the two biggest reasons. So I'll talk about the two biggest reasons why people leave their jobs according to Gallup, when they looked at the people who left their jobs in 2022 it, it boiled down to two categories. 

Either a, you just didn't feel cared for where you worked. If it's not cared for, it's maybe connection to the organization or the people there. But essentially you just didn't feel cared for it. It just, it didn't matter. You didn't feel like you mattered. The second thing was not seeing growth opportunities. So you probably do great at the job. But as you think about it, you're going there all day, every day and you're not seeing that potential for advancement in your career, increasing your salary, work life balance, all those things. 

Actually, that work life balance is more a feeling cared for. So those are kind of the two buckets. Where are you in that? Have you stopped to pause? Have you stopped to pause? 

Have you paused and really thought about uh do I feel cared for by the people I work with and by my leadership chances are you don't feel cared for. And so what's going on? There are people leaving it out of projects? Are you struggling at work? And people are feeling they can't depend on you. Uh Are you feeling a disconnect with others when it comes to the inside stories and so on? Whatever it is? Is there something in your power that you could do that you can do to remedy that? 

Maybe it's to engage more during the meetings, you know, offer up a suggestion. Uh If somebody is kind of irking you or, or just discounting you making you feel less, then do you have the opportunity to pull them aside and have a, a straightforward candid, respectful conversation about how they're making you feel, is that possible? And a lot of times it is possible, you know, for a lot of us, a lot of conversations, if not all our conversations happen inside our head and sometimes we involve other people, Susan Scott said that from fierce conversations. So think about that. Are you feeling being like people don't like you or maybe they're snubbing you or insulting you? Do they know they're doing that? 

Have you had an opportunity to pull them aside and just have that conversation such as, hey, when I bring up an idea and you consistently shoot the idea down and it makes me feel like I'm not really contributing to the team. And so as a result, I tend to shut down and I'd, I'd love to be a contributor in the team. So what can we do to resolve this and invite them in there? Uh Maybe they don't realize the other person doesn't realize they think maybe I'm just having dialogue and conflict is good. Not realizing that if no is the first thing you hear that, that discourages you from contributing in the future. So that's the first thing do you feel cared for by your coworkers, by your leadership? And if not, what specifically is making you feel not cared for? And can you have a conversation with the appropriate people to remedy that? And, and you want to have these conversations in a way that you're preserving and maintaining the self esteem of everybody involved? Uh You want to deliver in a way that points out the behaviors, not the characteristics of the other person. So maybe it's the phrasing that they say, maybe it's the tone and then share with eye statements what that has on you. 

I feel this, I perceive this and I'd like to resolve this. What is it like from your perspective? Invite them into that conversation and keep it respectful and find that mutual ground between the two of you? The connection part that kind of ties in the same way. If, if there are meetings, are you completely checked out? Can you contribute? Can you bring yourself to offer up solutions? Even if you're telling yourself, they don't care about what I have to say? 

Again, a lot of times the conversations are in ourselves and sometimes we involve other people. Now, the second thing, the second reason why people are leaving their jobs is they don't see opportunities for growth in their career. It does not necessarily mean you don't see growth in terms of a career progression like promotions to a leadership role. Some people just want to keep seeing that their work has impact, meaningful impact in the organization and see their skills grow as well. So maybe you have a new opportunity to learn new software, uh a new process or take on a responsibility that you've never really had yourself that deepens your, your skill sets and your competencies, uh the the soft skills as well. So a lot of times we, we think that progression happens through formal training, formal promotion, formal job titles. 

That's not always the case. I, I don't know about other generations, but I know myself, generation X, we overall tend to pride ourselves on our skill sets. And so growth for us doesn't necessarily mean a job title, a position of authority growth for us could be if I'm a consultant. Now, what will make me a better consultant today tomorrow and so on. And is the work I'm doing meaningful to the greater good of the organization and my community. I know people who want to work hard, roll up their sleeves and just do what needs to get done uh to, to get the job done for everybody. 

However, if you're highly skilled and you're being left to just check the mail, check orders for supplies, you might feel like you're not being fully engaged with your skill sets. And if that's the case, I recommend bring that up with your supervisor, don't surprise them during the annual performance review and don't just flat out surprise them when you found another job that may pay the same or pay more. Uh ask them for those opportunities. Say, hey, I have these skill sets and I feel like all you really trust me with are these lesser tasks or these, these um uh what do you call them? Like redundant tasks, these, these things that can be automated yet? 

I want something that will stretch me and grow me uh or just leave that out because it might offend your, your leader. Just simply tell them, hey, I feel like I have skills that have not been tapped into in my work here. And I'd like to explore some options with you of responsibilities. I can take on that will help me stretch those areas. Keep those main, those skills maintained and also help the organization. So strike up that conversation with your leader. 

Hopefully they're receptive to that and they realize, hey, I want to keep this person here because we're struggling, we're, we're struggling to keep people here. And if you're just simply looking for a new responsibility, you grow, you and teaching new skills and competencies. I would love to take something off of my plate and share that with you. You may not have to get promoted to a manager role to, to grow. That's, that's one of the big points I'm making here and the other one is having something delegated to you. 

A responsibility that gradually becomes yours. You own. It is a great way to, to grow in your career because you can go on to the next thing or where you are bloom. We planted, you now have the skill sets and the experience that allows you to say I've done that before. I know how to do that. I've, I've been on a project that got that done. Uh My friend Lee Cockrell who's been on this show twice says there are three s that help people grow. Uh One is to expose them to new experiences. 

The next thing is that they allow them to gain experience in their work. And then the third one is education. Uh And that's another thing to think about is are there ways for you to grow in terms of education that aren't necessarily a formal program paid for by your company? Maybe it's a blog, maybe it's a professional website. Uh Maybe your, your company cannot send you off to a three or $4000 training or certification. But can they set you up with a membership that costs 100 to $200? 

Where you have all the resources you could just guzzle in and, and learn from so lots of opportunities there. Uh especially if your organization is tightening up its budgets, recovering from the recession, trying to avoid doing layoffs. You're looking for opportunities for growth and some low budget ways to grow where you are is to have some responsibilities delegated to you that are not in your normal job description and you may have to negotiate for some things to come off your plate to accommodate. And that's sometimes a good thing because now that frees up some roles and tasks and responsibilities that somebody else can take on so they can grow. And the other thing is, and maybe there's not a formal training program available to you, but maybe there's a membership to an association locally or nationally that costs a fraction of what uh a full on event or conference would cost and, and those are those available to you. So a couple of things to look at if you feel like you hate your job, take a deep look inside what's going on in your five Fs and then take a look at those two big reasons why people leave. Uh What is it that's making you feel not cared for? And can you have a conversation, a respectful conversation to get to some mutual ground uh between you and the other person? And then the third, the third thing I'm talking about here is what can you do to grow where you are? Even if there isn't a formal pathway, a promotion ahead of you or a formal training program? 

What are the things that you could pick up that will grow your experience and expose you to new things, new concepts, new opportunities within the organization. So whether or not you stay where you are, you can at least take an effort, make an effort to uh bloom where you're planted, resolve the uh the issues that are going on internally and, and find yourself where you might have been stuck in a rut at work, revitalizing the things that are around you now is staying where you don't like the only option. No. Uh because as you go through this evaluation process, you may realize that there is no hope for change that for whatever the reason you've had your conversations, you've had your discussions, you've thought about all the information in front of you and you realized that your leadership just isn't going to change after we've had these conversations, your coworkers are not going to change even though we've had these conversations. And on top of that, despite my efforts to solicit opportunities for growth for myself, uh there isn't anything my leadership, my team is not willing to provide or offer up those opportunities. And even if I step in to try to do something, I'm shut down. 

If all that is true, then the other option is to find another organization to work. Maybe they'll give you the appreciation show that you're cared for and connected and give those opportunities for growth that your current employer doesn't. And that happens too. So hopefully, that helps you out. If you feel like you hate your job. Hopefully I gave you a good three step phase uh or process to consider everything around you and make the best decision for yourself, your family and your future. Because ultimately, I want you to create a life that you feel is worth living in your faith, your family and your career, just like in my book. Now, if you like everything you heard in this episode and you want more information, check out the show notes at beyond the rut dot com slash Js 018. And there you'll find links to related episodes, articles. Uh My book Beyond The Rut Create a Life worth living in your faith family and career, which by the way is also available on Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble. Yep. I've expanded into a whole new market guys. Uh Now I'm glad you joined me for this episode of Jerry Short and I look forward to joining you again on the next one. But until then go live Life Beyond the rut, take care.