Know when you’re wrong

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Tom

Know that story about that manager who tried to change his team but it didn’t work?  One day he realized that his team needed a change.  They were stuck in a rut, have become creatures of habit, soulless machines.  Or so he thought.  In reality his team came up with an idea to drastically change the order process.  It saved the team lots of money and they did it without interference from the manager. 

The truth?  He just got bored with himself, with his job.  He tried to blame everyone else but himself for how he felt like.  His team worked so well together that he didn’t had to do anything.  They didn’t need him to function as a group, not to delegate or even to supervize.  His work was done.  No more.

The great thing about this?  We don’t live in a world where they expect you to keep the same job for 40 years.  Knowledge works in cycles.  At first you’re totally absorbed by it… it’s like a difficult problem you try to solve, than you solve it and you move on to day-by-day processes, but when that’s done… basically… you’re done. 

It’s a harsh reality, discovering that you’re actually bored out of your mind at your current job/position.  Feeling useless is probably even worse then feeling neglected, but it happens more than you can imagine.  The solution?  Find something new to focus on, whether it’s a new job, a new project or something at home.  Accept the fact that one day, you’re probably bored with what you do… so why keep doing it?

You may want to read:

• What is management?
• When the team is in trouble
• The ego-manager