Life & Work

Being complacent at work kills any chances of growth

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When complacency sets in, you don’t find any joy in your work. PHOTO | FILE

Whether you are just joining the work scene or switching jobs, the feeling when you receive the call informing that you have finally landed that dream job is one of sheer joy.

A few weeks lapse and you enjoy the orientation, meeting and getting to know your new workmates. Your new job seems more than what you had hoped for.

You are so enthusiastic that creative ideas seem to be rolling off your mind every single moment and you cannot wait to share them with colleagues and bosses. Everyone notices your dedication to work and lauds you for it.

Fast forward five years later. The alarm rings in the morning and you begin the battle whether to open your eyes and get out of bed or not.

Motivational speaker and chief executive of Power Talks, Dr Wale Akinyemi, says this is the main indicator that a person is becoming complacent in their career.

“When the things you used to do quickly begin to take more time to complete and you no longer wake up with enthusiasm about going to work, the warning bells should start ringing,” he says.

Waned

When complacency sets in, there is no longer a spring in your step as you go to work. Instead you dread going to the office. The joy you had when you first joined the company has since waned and all you see are flaws.

Flaws in the managerial systems, inefficiencies in the operations and obstacles that hamper your climb up the corporate ladder.

You get to your desk or workplace and it’s the same thing you do day-in day-out. You become like a robot, doing only what is required of you; not putting in any extra effort.

When this happens, he says, then it’s time to take stock of your career path.

David Odhiambo, a career coach with Coach Development Institute of Africa (CDI-Africa), says when a person becomes complacent, they look for the easy way out in work-related issues and or assignments. They are no longer interested in taking risks.

A follower

“You no longer identify with your job or take up challenges and opportunities. You simply stop asking work-related hard questions that will build your career brand or enable you to become more productive. That is when you become more of a follower than a leader at the work place,” Mr Odhiambo says.

In most cases, the goings-on within your industry are happening without your knowledge and you often have to play catch-up when it comes to the latest technology trends.

You are not motivated enough to find ways of improving your skills – whether through short courses or retraining.

Mr Odhiambo notes that the feeling can also be brought on by lack of a career vision and a properly planned career path.

“You may suddenly realise that you made the wrong career choice and fear changing careers midstream. It could also be due to changes in your personal life and the inability to properly manage these changes which may lead to a change in the focus you have had on your career.”

Dr Akinyemi notes that when people start to feel “tired” of their current jobs, they begin to scour the newspapers for advertised vacancies.

Unless you speak up if you are unhappy with the situation, the management may assume that you are content with the status quo. It will get to a point where the company can no longer see you undertaking a different role.

“Your efficiency at the workplace begins to drop directly impacting on your performance assessments to the extent that you will not even be considered for promotions when a vacancy arises,” says Dr Akinyemi.

Lacklustre

In order to address the situation, it is important to determine why your job has become lacklustre. It could be that the duties you undertake are so routine that you no longer find them challenging.

To counter this, you need to come up with new weekly or monthly work targets that you want to achieve as well as other creative ones that make the tasks appear different.

Another reason that leads to demotivation and ultimately complacency in the workplace is the lack of proper management systems within the organisation. The feeling that the company no longer appreciates your contributions can quickly lead to complacency.

“This is common when there is a feeling that not everyone is treated the same in the organisation whether in terms of remuneration or the responsibilities they are given,” Dr Akinyemi says.

Mr Odhaimbo also attributes the loss of trust towards employers and the management style especially when the company is going through restructuring, layoffs and redundancies as one of the reasons behind complacency.

Office politics

“Where office politics is rampant and deeply entrenched, one fears to share new ideas or opinions that challenge the status quo, preferring to stay in the safe zone,” he says.

Having someone in management who you can confide your job fears to can help alleviate the situation by bridging the communication gap.

Employers need to ensure that all their workers understand the company’s mission and ensure that they match staff to jobs they are qualified for and reward those who perform.

“Complacency maybe the result of your being wrongly placed or from a feeling that your contribution to the company is being ignored. Look for a mentor to help re-ignite a passion in your career,” Dr Akinyemi suggests.

He notes that the responsibility of getting out of that rut remains squarely with an individual and their ability to critically assess the situation.

If in the end all the efforts to re-ignite your passion fails then perhaps you need to change your workplace.

Mr Odhiambo advocates for career coaching as a way of getting out of the complacency rut.