All of us feel a sense of malaise about our job at one point or another. Sometimes it’s the result of simple job frustration, or a manifestation of career burnout, or being faced with a sudden change, like losing your job. How do you get your career back on track and reachieve a life/work balance? First you have to pause and assess your position before you can move forward. In fact, hitting a point of impasse is essential if we are going to continue to grow, both professionally and personally. That’s the observation of Dr. Timothy Butler, a Senior Fellow and Director of Career Development Programs, MBA Program Administration, at the Harvard Business School. He wrote a book on Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths, and some of his insights are valuable to any professional feeling burned out or facing a dramatic career change.
As Dr. Butler notes, everyone hits an impasse for different reasons, both professional and personal, but basically it’s driven by a demand imposed on each of us to reassess how we fit in the world around us. It’s all about dealing with change, particularly our changing roles and responsibilities. In fact, professionals who work in particularly volatile markets might be more susceptible to feeling “stuck.” They are continually being asked to accommodate change on short notice, at the same time they are striving to plan for the next 12 to 18 months, to create a clear path of achievement:
“Well, that certainty can change radically on fairly short notice. When it does, the first response is to just muscle through. Keep on pushing and throw more resources at it. But often what a clear impasse signifies is that you need to stop and realize that your model does not capture the reality of your business right now and the reality of your position within your organization.”
With economic upheaval and a dramatic change in plans, many of us are facing an impasse. What do we do next? Some of the times from Dr Butler’s books might prove useful. He outlines six phases in the impasse process that help break things down into manageable steps (although they don’t necessarily follow a certain order):
Phase 1 is arriving at a crisis. The normal response is to keep on plugging.
Phase 2 is the deepening of the crisis. Old methods aren’t working and you feel emotionally stuck, and many of the old self-doubts creep in. You start to doubt your value professionally and personally.
Phase 3 is when you realize the old model just isn’t working any more. You cast a fresh eye on the problem and start to ask what’s really going on, and how can apply what you really know to address it.
The fourth phase is better information gathering. You start to listen more carefully, gathering new information and insight into the complexity of the problem. You start going deeper.
The fifth phase, which is an ongoing process, is a deepening of understanding of the patterns of the self; the patterns of what you like about the world, what you value, the types of people you connect with, the activities you find more meaningful, and what patterns you find positive.
Finally, the sixth phase requites action. To learn from your impasse, from getting stuck, you need to find a new path and take action to get there. You make a change, schedule a meeting, or take some other step to show the world you are ready to move on.
An impasse can unfold in a matter of days or years, and each phase has its own challenges. Everyone gets stuck at a different phase. Some people have trouble getting past old habits while others have trouble taking action. But the end result is a new direction into unknown territory. Change is inevitable, but success is dictated by how you embrace it.
