St.Louis Business Journal
LET GO OF WHAT YOU DISLIKE DOING

By Anna Navarro

July 2006  

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

Most of us need to take the risk of actively disengaging from tasks we dislike as our career progresses. Otherwise work can become a miserable experience. Paradoxically, however, letting go of what we dislike doing isn’t always easy to do.

Part of the reason may be that in the early part of our careers many of us need to be willing to "pay our dues" and tackle whatever is assigned to us. It's a way of earning the respect of peers and bosses and making our way in the world. But we also need to know when to shift out of that mode.

Matt was the owner of a small accounting firm. He had started his own firm after succeeding in both national and regional firms. But accounting bored him even though he was good at it. The only thing that had kept him going was the steep learning curve as he shifted between jobs and then started his own firm.

During our work together I learned he enjoyed conceptual thinking, following trends, developing strategies, making decisions and taking action. Those skills sounded to me like they could fit together in managing investments, so I inquired if he had ever done any investing. He said had done very well with his own investments, and even advised a few clients. He enjoyed it.

I wondered out loud if he'd ever considered shifting his career from accounting to managing investments. He said he’d considered and rejected the possibility.

Thinking his concerns were of a practical nature, I suggested he could segue into it gradually by delegating more responsibility for managing the accounting work to his subordinates. I noted he was good at business development (he had built his firm from scratch) and had a track record in managing investments, so there was every reason to think he could pull it off.

But his objections had nothing to do with the practical aspects of the change. He surprised me by saying he would feel guilty about making his subordinates do the drudge work he disliked. When I suggested that perhaps they might not feel the same way he did about accounting, even deeper concerns began to emerge.

He had grown up in a family with a heavy work ethic. The message was that work was not enjoyable but if you did it faithfully you would be rewarded with a comfortable lifestyle. At an unconscious level, he had translated that into a fear that if he didn’t do his share of distasteful tasks, it would come back to haunt him.

We continued to talk, and he realized he’d never articulated or examined the assumptions he carried with him about doing things he didn’t enjoy. As we discussed them, they began to lose their grip on Matt. They couldn’t stand up to close scrutiny.

Eventually he gave himself permission to delegate the accounting work and focus more of his personal time and energy on managing investments. He soon developed a thriving investment management practice. He also promoted the most competent of his subordinates to head the accounting part of the firm and created a plan for him to acquire an ownership stake in the business.

Erika’s dilemma was that she hated doing new client pitches for her architectural firm but found herself in charge of them. She was a shy person and though she was good at doing them, she was inevitably sleepless with anxiety for days before.

She’d fallen into being responsible for them by happenstance. She started doing research on client prospects as an intern. When she joined the firm, she got recruited to the business development team. One day the partner who was slated to lead a presentation came down sick and she pinch-hit for him. She’d done a great job and had led the effort from then on.

Initially, doing new client pitches had helped her career. She got noticed and made partner very quickly. But she dreaded doing them. They were casting a pall over the rest of her work.

I suggested she level with her partners about how she felt and offer to help train someone else to do it. At first she resisted the idea. She had many reasons: someone had to do it, it was very important to the success of the firm, she’d feel like a wimp, it's how she made partner, etc. It took many conversations for her to gather her courage and drop a burden she no longer needed to carry. Eventually she took the leap and now she is less stressed and enjoys her work much more.

Sometimes disciplined people, especially those who have been successful, are reluctant to give up things they dislike doing. Continuing to do them can become like hanging on to a painful lucky charm. But while it isn’t easy to let go of them, it’s always a mistake to engage in activities you don’t enjoy past the time when you can find a way to delegate or avoid them.

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.