St.Louis Business Journal
MORIBUND COMPANIES CAN SAP THE VITALITY OF PEOPLE IN THEM

By Anna Navarro

May 2006  

Author's note: Client stories in this column are based on actual situations fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.

Moribund companies can survive for a long time on sheer inertia. Many of them were once great workplaces that fell on hard times because of poor leadership. One of the biggest challenges for individuals who work in them is how to stay alive and vital while the organization they are part of is dying.

Nancy worked for a large manufacturer in a midsize southern city whose market share, profits and stock price had been drifting downward for years. There were periodic rumors of the company being sold.

Many employees had already jumped ship. But that didn’t make sense in Nancy’s situation. She had worked her way up to director of dealer promotions with only a high school degree. She was good at her job and loved it, but there were no other large manufacturers headquartered in the region that operated through a dealership distribution system. She could have found a similar position with a manufacturer in another part of the country but she was the single mother of two daughters and her already hard fought divorce decree required her to stay in town.

Since she didn’t know of any way to match her income locally, it made sense to her to stay with the company as long as possible. If the company was sold she also might get a severance package or a job.

Meanwhile, however, her current work situation was very frustrating. New initiatives went nowhere, decisions took forever, creative ideas fizzled. She watched her co-workers become depressed, bitter and mean-spirited.

She knew that to avoid that downward spiral she needed two things: First, an activity that would engage and challenge her. Second, a plan for how she would earn her living in the long term.

She decided that the best challenge she could take on was to develop a new career path for herself even if she couldn't implement it immediately. So she flew to St. Louis and we worked for three days to figure out what she was good at and liked doing that was transferable to other fields. We also analyzed her passions, life priorities, financial needs, desired working conditions and constraints. She left with a template of what was important to her in an ideal work situation, and a list of potential careers to explore.

We continued working together by phone. I taught her how to find people to talk to in fields of interest, and how to do a good research interview. She did Internet research and met new people. She felt herself coming back to life even though the process was difficult at times.

She discarded several ideas as she went along. Eventually she zeroed in on being a sales rep for a wine distributor, calling mainly on restaurants.

This career made sense in many respects. She was a wine aficionado. She was experienced at building customer relationships and helping them with promotions, point of sale marketing materials and staff training, all important skills for a wine rep. And though her income would be commission based and lower than her current salary at first, there was potential eventually for outstripping her current compensation.

Once she figured this out, she became a woman with a purpose. She didn't start looking for a job until her company was sold two years later but she made a point of getting to know restaurant owners and discussing wine with them. She visited wineries. She read wine magazines. She learned about distributors and joined industry associations.

She was ready to job hunt the minute her job ended. She understood what wine distributors looked for in sales reps. We had prepared a resume, rehearsed a self-presentation and a networking interview, identified contacts and role-played a hiring interview. She knew who she wanted as a reference and how to gently coach them about what employers in the field look for.

The modest severance package she got and her savings helped tide her over while she found the right job and built up her customer base. Now, five years later, her income surpasses what she used to make.

There is an emotional component to Nancy's story that needs to be acknowledged. Throughout this difficult time she maintained a deep commitment to staying vital and avoiding stagnation. I helped her figure out what she wanted to do and how to land a job in the field, but the attitude she brought to our work was an indispensable ingredient in her success.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.