39. Four ways to benefit from the great resignation with Prina Shah

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Hello and welcome to this episode of Ways to Change the Workplace with myself Prina Shah. I love what I do. I'm a global leadership coach, a consultant, a trainer, a keynote speaker, a podcaster. I help you to develop your leaders, your teams, and I help you to optimize your organizational cultures. I'm here to help you find ways to change your workplace. Why? Because we spend more time in our waking day at work than we do with our loved ones. It has to be a good place to be. So in this podcast, you can expect a mix of interviews with amazing thought leaders and then some solo episodes from myself as well. Strap yourselves in. Or have people been terminated due to the fact that they didn't get vaccinated at your workplace? Either way, I'm either hearing about the great resignation or a lack of people within the workplace. Now, we all aim for career satisfaction to be secure, to be challenged, and to be productive in our workplace. But when we are working, when we are doing more with less resources, that's really and truly hard. So today I want to talk to you about how you can make the most of the great resignation for yourself if you have chosen to remain at your workplace. We may not all come to a crossroad at some point in our career where we think, bugger it, because of whatever's happened in society, I'm going to pack everything in and I'm going to change my life. You might be in the situation where you want to remain at work and you want to play the long game. How can you benefit from the great resignation? Let's discuss that. I have four points for you today. Point number one is to continue to deliver. It really can be easy to drop your productivity to suit the environment that you are in. Continually doing this may inhibit the way that you work. And it may in fact create a new habit for you and a new way of working, which is leaving you being potentially less productive. So, like I said, continue to deliver. Point number two, continue to learn. Remember, that which is in front of you is your teacher. Even learning how not to do things is an excellent piece of information. Learning need not be in the form of traditional training. In this respect, it could be from this podcast, it could be from micro learning that you were doing yourself, or you could simply be learning by observing others, by observing the way that your systems are used, and by observing the culture and what you can add to it. Point number three, it's a really big point, do not dismiss. It is really easy to dismiss others as being not as focused. Especially when you are in it for the long game and others might be deciding on their life choices. I often find with my coaches that they are high achievers. But remember, not everybody around you is, and not everyone around you has the same values or work principles. We are all different, with different work and life needs. So don't dismiss whatever's happening around you. It is completely valid for an individual to question their life, their career, and their choices. That's up to them. Point number four. Have the conversation. Talk to your manager about your career needs. I often find that this is a step that people feel most uncomfortable about, which is why I recommend these pointers to guide your conversation. If you intend on staying in your workplace and you want to play the long game, consider talking to your manager to discuss your achievements. To discuss your learnings. Ask your manager's plans for the next quarter. Yes, I say the next quarter and not the next year, because of the rapid pace of change that we're working in. So sticking to quarterly plans is more realistic. That way you get to find out how you are going to fit in or what value you can add. Also share your career goals. Note that this can be a tricky one if you have decided that you want to move on to a different team internally or to a different project. Outline clearly where you hope to get to by X months and ask your manager if that's realistic and whether they can support you to get there. Make plans. These plans can either be to move on to another project within your organization or how you are going to manage your career at your current organization and within your current team. If you've had the conversation and if you have clarity about your future. Now, for those people who are looking to leave, contact your network before you quit altogether. Put the quiet word out there and see what's available, what skills you need to develop to get you there. I wish you well in the trajectory of your career, whether you have decided to move on from your job or whether you've decided to play the long game. Here's to happy employees, wonderful leaders, and great company cultures where ideally you like to stay for longer than one or two years. If you don't want to stay, completely up to you as well.