I Want Less Responsibility

Introduction 00:04

This is the Happen To Your Career podcast, with Scott Anthony Barlow. We help you stop doing work that doesn't fit you, figure out what does and make it happen. We help you define the work that's unapologetically you, and then go get it. If you're ready to make a change, keep listening. Here's Scott. Here's Scott. Here's Scott.

Scott Anthony Barlow 00:23

Hey, it's Scott from Happen To Your Career. And I want to give you an example of a conversation that I've had over and over and over again, hundreds of times. It's usually with leaders of organizations, leaders of nonprofit, other people who are in positions that carry a high degree of responsibility in their career, and even outside of their career. It usually starts with me asking this question, "Tell me about what a great next step looks like for you in your career?" And here's what they usually say. They usually say something like, "Well, I'm looking for less responsibility." Now, here comes the very coachee sounding question. I say, "Tell me more about that." Okay, now, let's pull out of that for a second. You might be able to predict how this conversation will go from here. But if not, here's the spoiler, it's almost never, almost never, about the responsibility itself. It's about the stress. It's about the environment, the lack of help, the fact that they feel stretched, the impact, the confidence that comes from feeling like you need to do it all and it's not working very well. It's about the fact that these people don't care in the same way about their company or product anymore, not the way that they used to, but they still feel obligated to their team, they still feel obligated to the people. It's about the fact that when I say the word "responsibility", all of those emotions, the feelings, the negatives, all of it is attached to that word. That causes us to feel like we need to get rid of the responsibility, that's the solution, let's remove the responsibility, I just need less of it. Only here's the thing, that's never the solution. Fast forward a little bit, we end up working with a lot of those people and get to see their career trajectory, we get to see the change that they make, we get to see how they work through all of those situations, and how it goes from, "I need less responsibility" to what they really actually need. With almost all of those people, we usually spend months. Now remember for a second, these are high performing professionals, high performing executives, people in positions of response or very capable people, right. But we still need many months to separate out what they perceive they need from what they actually want and need. Why? Well, because it turns out those same people figure out how to have responsibility without the same types of stress, or how to have responsibility without working themselves to an unhealthy or burnt out state, responsibility without giving away everything that they have, a responsibility without many other things that are causing the pain. Responsibility is just one example of this, though. You could probably insert many, many other areas in there. If there's something that you think you need right now, maybe it's flexibility, maybe it's, I don't know, higher degree of pay, maybe it is... "I am not growing enough in my role. I'm now bored. I'm not challenged. I am surrounded by other people who are passionate about the role. I'm not as it turns out." Whatever it is, it doesn't matter what it is, if there's just one thing that you're focused on right now, I can guarantee it's not going to be the whole solution. Even if you get that one thing, it's not going to take care of it, it's not going to make it all better, that I can promise you. And by the way, that's why only 4% of the people in the entire world, we're talking the entire world here, are really in love with their work, really enamored with their work, really have work that is much more meaningful to them on a whole different level. And the reason is, it's a complex problem. What we're talking about here, if you want work that is much more meaningful, if you want work that also pays you well, if you want work that is much more fulfilling on a whole number of different levels, well, that's a complex problem. It's not a simple one. Simple problems have one solution. Complex problems have many things that are overlaying one another that have to be teased out in order to really find a solution.

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:58

Now here's a crazy and I think very interesting statistic too. When we're helping people through this type of change, and keep in mind this is with our help, it usually takes them 6 to 10 months to make this type of career change to work that fits them. That's not a small project, not a small project at all. That's more like, I don't know, think of the largest project that you've ever worked on, it's probably more like that. It's more like planning a wedding for 2000 people, or it's more like a full scale room after room after room after room house remodel, or even building a brand new house, like it's going to take many months, and many people working through it in order to make that happen. It's a complex problem. It doesn't just have one solution. Okay, so most people in the world don't have our help, they never make it. And that's not even a credit to us. That's just a fact, like most people don't. Gallup has done some really wonderful research around this, and many other organizations have, too. But here's what I'll tell you, if you want meaningful work that matters to you, and also pays you well, here's the thing that you must know, you must approach it differently. When I say approach it differently, I'm not talking about approaching it as a singular solution. If only I had less responsibility, if only I had more flexibility, if only I had, I don't know something else that ends, whatever it is, it's going to require a different approach, it's going to require a multifaceted, multi layered approach. If it's important to you. If it's not important to you, that's okay. But if you're listening to a podcast like this, I'm guessing, this type of work is important to you. And the other thing I'll tell you too, is it's probably not gonna be found in the normal conventional ways. Because almost everybody in the world is approaching it in normal, conventional ways. They're applying online, they're making job changes, they are doing all the things that you see out there in the media right now. And they're not, they're still not getting there, they're still not becoming that very tiny percentage of people that are really in love with, really enamored with their work that have the right fit. It's got to require a completely different solution. So here's what I would ask you, number one, is this really something that's important to you? Is it really important to you to find work that is more fulfilling, that is the right fit for you? That's thing number one. If not, be honest with yourself, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. If it's just not a priority, like that's okay. But if it is, then I would encourage you to make a commitment to figuring out how to make this type of change differently. Because once you make this change once, the skills and experiences that you get from that will be beneficial the entire rest of your life, entire rest of your life. That said, if you want help with that, I know that you know that we're here from time to time, we'll say, "hey, email me." And I mean it. I really do. You know, if you are interested in having help, and having support, that's what we do. Email me, Scott@happentoyourcareer.com and put 'Conversation' in the subject line. And I read every single email, but either myself or my team will respond. And I'll introduce you to another member of my team, where we can have a conversation. We can learn more about you, your situation and figure out the very best way that we can help support you in making this change. But step one is, it always starts with declaring whether or not it's a priority. Email me Scott@happentoyourcareer.com put 'Conversation' in the subject line. Talk to you later. I am out. Adios!