Crush Your Career by Dee Ann Turner

Author:Dee Ann Turner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business / Careers;Career development;Job satisfaction;Job hunting;BUS012000;BUS037020
ISBN: 9781493428687
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2021-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

7

Navigating Land Mines

During the course of a career, we find land mines everywhere. It’s important that we learn early how to navigate them so that they don’t derail us or prevent us from achieving success. Some of these land mines we can see coming, and some we would have never guessed we would step on. For those we can anticipate, if we prepare ourselves, we can spot them, deactivate them, and keep on the path toward achieving our personal and organizational goals.

Recover from Rejection

A few years ago, I was attending a conference and sat with Donna, a colleague from another company, at dinner. She shared a story about one of her team members, Kate. She was disturbed because Kate received some unfair and unwarranted criticism from a senior leader in the organization. She had evaluated the situation and was sure the criticism was not justified and invalid. Even more frustrating was the fact that the narrative seemed to be related more to inaccurate personal judgments about Kate rather than professional performance issues. It was evident that Donna was an advocate for her team member and was heartbroken about the misplaced criticism.

As we talked further, my colleague explained that the senior leader, Jay, insisted she move Kate to another role and that Kate no longer serve his team. It appeared Kate was doing an outstanding job in winning the confidence of other leaders, and the members of Jay’s leadership team trusted her. The colleague asked me what I would do in the same situation.

I explained that even if I felt the senior leader was making a mistake, I would want to do what was in my team member’s best interest and make the change. It appeared Kate had performed at her best and given a valiant effort but was ultimately still rejected by Jay. Later, after I returned home from the conference, Donna called to tell me that reluctantly and regretfully, she made the change.

Perhaps one of the most intense negative emotions we can experience is rejection. It’s brutal to be dismissed by those you love and serve. For leaders, the most painful rejection is the loss of followership. For individual contributors, it’s the loss of confidence by leadership and team members. Despite our best efforts, sometimes the very ones we are giving the effort to reject us.

Resilience is the antidote to rejection. All leaders at one time or another will experience rejection. How do you overcome it when it happens to you? How can you become more resilient?

Recognize that your identity is not in a title or a role or determined by the people you lead. Your identity is the combination of your faith and your personal vision, purpose, mission, and values. When you experience rejection in the workplace, remember that you are so much more than an employee number, a name badge, and a title on an organizational chart. Finding your identity in your faith can help you easily find a place of refuge amid the criticism. Resilient people overcome rejection by grounding themselves in an identity deeper than merely a role at work.

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