One Type of Job You Shouldn't Accept
A promotion is a promotion, right? It’s a validation of your efforts and a job well done. A chance for the organization to match your talents with a new challenge. A bigger salary, a better title, and a swell of pride.
Yes, usually this is the case. But occasionally it isn’t, and I learnt this lesson the hard way in my early 30s.
In a dizzying spell I was promoted to a new role and then put at risk of redundancy about four months later. Whilst probably not the worst experience in my career, it was a humbling experience that ultimately led to a significant change of direction in my life and a valuable lesson. Everyone faces challenges in their careers, but I am hoping I can help you avoid this one.
The type of job you should avoid is the one that doesn’t make sense when written down on a piece of paper.
We will address how to define problems and create solutions in future posts. But all roles should have a clear purpose and hopefully be the most efficient solution to solve a specific problem. The role of CEO is clear, and it solves for the problem of how to lead an organization, set corporate objectives, approve the strategy and communicate internally and externally to stakeholders. Where companies have experimented with other management structures (e.g. shared leadership), they may work for a short period, but are inherently inefficient and usually fail.
A role that doesn’t make sense when written down on a piece of paper either does not solve a specific problem or is not the most efficient way to solve that problem. In most cases the individuals in these roles are set-up to fail. That failure often comes when an organization, either through choice or necessity, looks to improve its margin and make efficiency savings. In my case the failure coincided with a significant economic recession. However, it is possible to exist in these roles for much longer and sometimes it is the employee that decides to leave to do something more fulfilling.
What follows is a non-exhaustive list of signs that can help you recognize these roles.
If it’s difficult to clearly articulate the purpose of a role without reference to other parts of the org structure; this potentially reveals that the work should probably be absorbed by another team rather than creating a new role to cover it. There could be a more efficient solution to the problem.
If the role appears to be a half-hearted attempt to reorientate the organization, then this may be a problem role. Large companies are often designed as a matrix structure. One of the most common arrangements is to organize across two axes: business type and geography. Companies balance these axes off against each other to determine where the control and authority to make decisions ultimately sits. The model usually isn’t fixed and companies shift orientation as they determine how best to service the customer and maximize sales. If a company is territory-dominant and you are promoted to a line of business role, how much control do you have over resources, strategy and outcomes? If a company wants to get the best of both worlds without giving you the support you need to succeed, then can you say your role makes sense when written on a piece of paper?
Completely new roles either standalone or in newly designed departments are often suspicious. Nature abhors a vacuum. Even if there is an identified gap, the chances are that some group will be doing that work already. For this to be successful, the new role and/or department needs the assigned tasks to be meaningful enough to justify the headcount. They also need sufficient internal support to take ownership of the task. If they don’t have either, then the role fails the test of being the most efficient solution to a problem and the description of that role will appear short and incomplete.
The role may be a promotion to lead a division with negative growth prospects. It is possible to describe the role on a piece of paper, but by doing so it becomes immediately apparent that it isn’t a good use of resources and that a merger of this division or even the exit from this market would be the best outcome for the organization.
Returning to my own experience. My boss had just been promoted to manage an additional division. My new role was to backfill some of my boss’s existing responsibilities regarding management of a JV, an additional loose brief to review processes and controls across the business and responsibility to manage the divisional finance controllership function as backfill for another departing member of staff. The third component was the most significant of the three as it was an existing business function and the easiest to describe. Warning signs should have flashed when neither the title of controller nor direct line-management of the controllership team were offered with the promotion. Even now I struggle to summarize the elements of the role let alone the main purpose of it. Other than filling in gaps, there was no reason for this role to exist and it certainly wasn’t very efficient. Three weeks after receiving the promotion, the company centralized the controllership function to service all divisions. I lost the most important third of my role. I continued to throw as much of myself into the remaining 2/3rds, but the recession that followed the credit crunch focused management’s minds on margin. My job was toast, and I was officially informed I was at risk of redundancy.
This isn’t a pity party. I understand the decisions that were made and why I was offered the job in the first place. In the end I was not made redundant and continued to work in a different capacity at the same company for a couple more years. I had also learnt one of the most vital lessons of my career and I now have the courage to challenge any new roles that I am offered in a way I did not feel empowered to do before. We are all in control of our own careers and should make choices that align with our career goals.
Next week’s blog is going to be on a very different topic. A “training stack” is a series of complimentary supplements that can boost athletic performance. I came up with a “reading stack” during the dark days of the pandemic that I think offers a similar professional upgrade and I will share it with you.