A [better?] way to cope......
The weekend Financial Review had an excellent article by Robert Sutton that I’m sure will be of benefit for many of us at the rat. Especially those of us whose years of hard work and efforts are now measured by incompetent, sociopathic buffoons with no industry understanding together with a set of KPI’s being based upon our ability to generate reams of meaningless paperwork and our ability to fill in the dot.
Let’s face it ladies and gentleman. Those running this once proud company care NOTHING for it’s staff, or for that matter it’s continued LONG TERM success beyond it’s ability to provide them with MASSIVE personal wealth.
I know that I don’t need to remind current employees that we are treated like dirt but the following may help us cope.
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“Stay detached. Passion is an overrated virtue in organizational life and indifference is underrated. This conclusion clashes with the message of most business books, which trumpet the power of exuding deep and authentic passion about your work, organization, colleagues and customers. All this talk is absolutely correct if you are in a good job and are treated with dignity and respect. But it is hypocritical nonsense to the millions of people who are trapped in jobs and companies where they feel oppressed and humiliated, where their goal is to survive with their health and self esteem intact and to provide for their families- not to do great things for a company that treats them like dirt.
Organizations that are filled with employees who don’t give a damn about their jobs will suffer poor performance, but in my book, if they routinely demean employees, they get what they deserve. When organizational life takes this ugly turn, linking your self-worth to how people treat you and putting all your effort and emotional energy into your workplace is a path to exploitation and self-destruction.
Self preservation sometimes requires the opposite response: learn to fell and practise indifference and emotional detachment. When your job feels like a prolonged personal insult, focus on just going through the motions, on caring as little as possible about the jerks around you, and think about something more pleasant as often as you can.
None of us has complete control over our surroundings, and we all get stuck with oppressive jerks whom we can’t change. There are times when the best thing for your mental health is not to give a damn about your job, company, and especially those nasty people. Some reseachers have suggested that “detached concern” can help employees avoid the burnout that results from constant exposure to other peoples problems. If you can’t bring yourself to care about good collegues, clients, and organizations, its a sign you need a break, to learn a new skill or move to a different job. But detached indifference- simply not giving a damn- might be the best that you can do to survive a workplace that subjects you to relentless humiliation.”