What to do when you love your role but not your employer
Loving your work but struggling with the culture you’re doing it in is a challenge that a lot of leaders face – and it’s one that can be surprisingly draining. As anyone who’s worked in a culture that doesn’t suit them knows, it can feel as though even just being yourself is an effort. This is even more difficult when you’re leading a team that feels the same way. So how can you keep yourself and your team motivated when the setting feels a little off?
Start by working out what feels off
When something doesn’t feel right culturally, but you can’t quite put your finger on it, it helps to dig into the specifics. My first suggestion is that you need to get forensic in terms of what it is that bothers you about the culture. There are plenty of models out there which can guide your attention, but I recommend the free version of this one (the OCAI/competing values framework) as a good starting point. You can then compare the type of culture your organisation has in comparison to what culture your preferred sort of organisation has. You will likely find some differences, which will explain why you don’t feel as though you fit. It’s normal for there to be some differences, but if it exposes a gulf between what you have and what you want, this can feel validating and explain your dissatisfaction.
Keeping your team motivated
If you’ve built a great microculture in your team, protecting and nurturing that is key. Reward behaviours that fit team culture, encourage storytelling around great work you’ve been doing, and celebrate wins on a regular basis.
This can be a good way to limit engagement with the parts of the culture you’ve identified yourself as not liking, by encouraging the team to be inward-facing as much as possible, and not to be sidetracked by the culture you’re not keen on.
Keep things outwardly positive if you can
Being honest with your team about your own frustrations can help build trust – pretending everything’s fine when it’s not is exhausting and rarely sustainable. Just make sure your honesty doesn’t tip over into excessive negativity. Frame your unhappiness as being about wanting to do amazing work, and try to convey that rather than this current time being a waste, it’s a preparatory phase where you can develop the skills and knowledge that’ll allow you to excel in what you do next as a team.
For yourself, also use this time to build capability, grow as a leader and maximise your impact where you are now. Because while a cultural mismatch is frustrating, it’s also a powerful leadership learning opportunity. One that will serve you well when the right opportunity does come along.
Three resources on leading through a cultural misfit:
Understanding the organisation’s culture: a diagnostic that can help
How to protect your team from a bad organisational culture: how to prevent and cure team toxicity
How to build a strong team culture: in seven steps
Did you find this post helpful? For more content like this, sign-up to my newsletter, ‘Dear Katie’, where I help solve real-life messy leadership problems.
Have a leadership problem of your own? Submit it via email – katie@katiebest.com – and I will answer it anonymously in a future issue.
