Stuck, institutionalized and yet scared to experiment ?
If you choose not to venture out, bring the stuff home !
For all those dedicated and loyal employees who spend years and decades with one firm and wonder if they are doing a service to themselves, let me ask these questions,
- Do you feel stuck?
- Are you worried about becoming irrelevant in the industry?
- Are you scared of the outside world?
There is a way to bring the the stuff home with minimal risk, get unstuck and be happy. I have been there and enjoyed the journey. So let us explore
Being institutionalized The word institutionalized became very popular after the famous 1994 movie “The Shawshank Redemption.” The movie portrayed how prison life can change a person’s outlook so drastically that they get accustomed to it and are scared to go out after the jail term. The character Brooks felt fully out of place in the real world and took his own life. I watched the movie very recently and could relate to the contemporary workplace dynamics.
My experience
I worked with a Fortune 500 company for the past 22 years, and I felt institutionalized periodically. Practically every 4–5 years. As I love the company and running away is not a fitting solution, I have practiced exploring exciting trends and bringing the relevant ones to my workplace. It helped to fulfil my passion and keep me on edge. It becomes a win-win proposition for the company and me.
What options do we have?
Job-hopping?: It is a temporary fix. After the honeymoon period, you realize that nothing has changed.
Be complacent and give up? — We are all born to shine. The workplace is a platform for us to show our creative side and gain a sense of fulfilment. Success in our professional endeavours makes our life more meaningful.
Turn negative and keep cribbing? — It is just a downward spiral. You know where it goes.
Build a system to prevent being institutionalized or, worst case, bounce back quickly — I am sure we all love to do it and sceptical on its feasibility. Let us figure out how.
How to orchestrate a turnaround?
- Catch yourself: Look for patterns and catch yourself. If your creativity has dried up, work content remains the same as last year, no failures to remember, you start blaming the environment for the stagnation, you start to learn new technologies and immediately realize that they are not useful in your work, high chance that you are in the process of being institutionalized.
- Calibrate your strengths: No obvious solution exists for this problem. So you need to create one. Synergizing your strengths with what is relevant in the industry is one way to achieve it. It requires a minimum of 6 months of disciplined knowledge assimilation and calibration. If you do it, you can identify 1–3 potential areas of interest matching your strengths:
- Map to company needs: Your institution will respect you only when your time/talent/energy is utilized for something that matters for the business. So you need to find potential impact areas and build a case. Do not expect a lot of support to come from it initially. If it does, time to recalibrate!
- It is a choice: For several months, it will have to be your personal time and goal to make it worthwhile for the company. So have patience and invest your time daily.
In summary, many of us can run into this confusing situation. Loyal to the company, but not quite enjoying the work. Through a well-disciplined system, we can turn the ship around and reclaim our passion and relevance. Beware, the situation will come back after few years, you should be ready to do it again.
When you choose not to venture out, bring home what you really need.
Read more about resisting our innate desire to give up — Read this medium article — Can I leave now ?
