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Learn to leave well enough alone
Now that we've launched into a new year, I have a resolution to add to your list. If you don't have a list, consider making this your only resolution: 2007 will be the year to learn when to leave well enough alone, at least at work.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, this advice either doesn't pertain to you or really, really pertains to you. That is, either it's not one of your problems or you're in denial about having the problem.
For the uninitiated, here are hypothetical examples of workers in positions in which they could choose to leave well enough alone or not to.
We'll start with George, a conscientious person who loves his work and the people he serves. Let's say he works for a small nonprofit managed by a lackadaisical boss, who is overseen by a nearly clueless board of directors. Because the financial health of nonprofits usually depends on grants and donations, we'll make that the issue.
One day George notices that there will not be enough money coming in next year to sustain the agency, based on the small number of grant requests being written this year. George's boss clearly isn't doing his job of asking for money.
What to do? After George points out the discrepancy to his boss and mentions it once to the board, you could argue that he should let it go. As the agency's primary provider of services, he already has his hands full. If he gives warning of the problem, he has fulfilled his duty.
But suppose George doesn't see it that way. In his eyes, his duty isn't to the boss or to the board, but to the people he serves. And he won't be able to serve them if the organization goes under. So he goes a step further and contacts one of the major funders. And a step further yet, to contact the government agency that licenses the nonprofit.
Now things are good and stirred up. Meetings are scheduled and audits are under way. Although George isn't privy to most of the happenings, he feels gratified to see action on the issue. Imagine his surprise, then, to receive notice from his boss that the agency is moving in a new direction and his services no longer are needed.
Our second person is Betty, a sales representative for a product distribution firm. Like George, she sees a problem that could endanger her employer's financial health. Similarly, the problem is rooted in her boss's performance. Betty knows that if things continue this way, her whole division could suffer. Worse, her customers will lose out if the company is forced to cut the product lines she sells.
Although Betty knows that the problem lies with her boss, she takes a different route than George did. After gingerly discussing the issue with her boss to determine whether he sees the picture as clearly as she does, she decides to drop it. In her judgment, her boss has made his choice about how to manage the division, and his bosses seem to agree.
Betty's problem now shifts from how to save the company to how (and whether) to save her job. She must decide whether she should look for new employment, try to ride out the situation in this job or try for an internal transfer. Luckily, because the problems she has identified will take awhile to evolve, she has time to research and implement her decision.
George, on the other hand, is looking for work -- in a circle of nonprofits that now know him as the guy who called the licensing agency on his boss.
The stories of George and Betty are dramatic, but they illustrate a point: Worker bees don't have much leverage, so they need to choose their battles carefully. If you feel you have a moral imperative to say or do something, so be it. But if it turns out you simply have a difference of opinion about how something is being handled, understand that, when push comes to shove, the lower-level worker usually gets the biggest shove.
If this isn't going to be the year when you learn to leave well enough alone, at least let it be the year when you think really hard before putting a stick in the hornet's nest.
- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.
