I was speaking with a longstanding client yesterday who has been offered a possible lateral move in his current employer. We discussed the facts that although the move sounds interesting, he needs to evaluate the change and the possible impact on his current career goal and his current employer.
I asked him if he knew the offer, compensation, title, and proposed duration of the program. Was the new position working with a successful program or one that either stagnated or is in the process of failure? As well as the elimination of the current participants engaged in this existing program.
No one should decide about a new position, lateral move, or promotion without knowing the whole picture of the job and its track record.
Endorphins are great, but not when faced with the gamble of a new job.
Tenure often takes precedence over proposed title, compensation, or new responsibilities. There is always a risk of changing your job, but it must be mitigated by Reward and some security.
At that moment, I thought of the jigsaw puzzles I had worked on as a child. I asked about negotiations first. Those risks and unknowns that now established the borders of our puzzle. Major and minor risks are attached to the corners and establish the outer perimeter of the puzzle.
Positive job positions and goals, tenure, compensation, and title are placed in this Inner external border.
Your personal goals, motivators, etc are placed in the center of the puzzle along with the goals and perceived outcome of the company reasons for their goals, objectives, and allied internal procedures and contacts.
Using this simple method can help candidates access and make a positive objective decision. The operative word here is objective.
The puzzle (decision maker process) is the simplest method to see any opportunity: the company’s goals and objectives, the risks, the prior attempts at success and or failures. But his process not only delineates the processes but also the endemic track record and the parallel success/failure ratio for the proposed new employee.
An actual puzzle (success/failure tree) (written down) is always more valuable than one that is only conjecture.
The gestalt (law of simplicity) is always more than the sum of its parts.
~ Bruce
