You have a passion for your work. You are driven to do give your best. You love the challenge of new problems and strive for continuous improvement of your products and services. Well, what happens when that type of drive and ambition is no longer valued at your job? Do you tough it out? Given my experience in working with many high performers, I say you head for the hills.
Whether it be due to restructuring or simply bad hiring, I’ve seen new leaders brought in that are the anti-thesis of the creative, risk-taking visionaries that preceded them. For some this presents no problem at all…for others it is slow death by a thousand cuts. If you are a high performer, you’re likely to feel the latter. As the boss impacts the workplace culture by promoting or favoring those who are not innovators but instead play it safe, you might begin to feel a slow but tightening stranglehold around your neck.
Leadership affects organizational culture and if the new boss begins to reward mediocrity, it is usually best to start looking elsewhere. As a high performer you’ll likely not be a good match for this new status quo. Your finely tuned skill set, drive and winning attitude will likely never be fully appreciated and can even become perceived as a threat.
The bottom line is that if you’re no longer feeling the ‘love’ at work for your skills and abilities you risk becoming bored, frustrated and disengaged…and you know that this is not a place you want to go.
