I think anyone walking into any new role walks in with expectations. Those expectations drive your interests in taking that job. It’s particularly interesting when the foundation is not what they claim to be. A type of buyers remorse is often felt when the reality of the situation of an organization is distorted or they haven’t been truthful about the state of things. You always have two choices: leave or lay new groundwork to build a new solid foundation. It’s strange way to look at things when the brand new job you’ve just accepted was sold to you in a different light. You make the decision to stay hoping that you can bring something different to the organization. I’d call it organizing chaos. That’s what you’re doing: organizing the chaos so you can create an environment you can thrive in. Here’s the rub though: they really aren’t invested in changing. Too many distractions, pivots, and direction changes. Things can’t change. They’re too invested in keeping things the same.

Soon you begin to accept the way things are done knowing that this isn’t the way you should do things. They, too, know how they are doing things isn’t working. You remain silent knowing that some day you may be able to influence things. And, if you were hired to be the change agent, you understand that at some point you’ll be asked provide some type of roadmap for where things should go and asked to lead a team to implement it. Sadly, you see these initiatives fail or flounder to take traction. And, if you’re anything like me, you put in more hours to ensure success knowing things going to create that safe space for you to thrive in. More hours, more time, more nights, and more weekends carrying implementations to success to keep your vision or plans alive. You’re not operating like you use to because you’re tired and burnt out. And, eventually you stop caring.

Gently surrendering is what I saw my peers do. They grew tired of the promises for change, found new gigs, and hopefully the same patterns aren’t repeated.