By Jack Cumming
My friend John Hadley is a career coach specializing in actuaries. Recently, he asked me to respond to a case example. With John’s permission, I’ve recast this case for senior living, together with the response that I gave him. Can you relate to Carolina’s predicament?
A Career Move?
Carolina is an executive director managing a CCRC for her company. There is a corporate reorganization, and she is moved into a planning role at the central office nearby with a focus on finance and technology, without having any discussion, input, or forewarning from her boss.
Carolina loved the people side of community management, had been excited to come to work each day, and had made it clear for some time that she hoped for an expanded role helping others to achieve the positive results she had. Instead, she finds herself in a position she doesn’t like, where she lacks confidence in her abilities for at least half the job, feels overwhelmed, and now dreads coming to work. She also feels somewhat betrayed by her boss.
She wonders if there might be a better opportunity elsewhere, but with her extended family in the local area, and her husband firmly opposed to moving, she feels she might be severely constrained in her search.
If you were Carolina, what would you do?
Jack’s Response
My experience is that, within senior living, there are product people and there are financial people. Product people, who devise and price the enterprise contracts and offerings, are the creative spark that draws in customers and allows the enterprise to flourish. Financial people keep the books to ensure that creativity doesn’t erode the balance sheet. They are there to ensure the enterprise doesn’t fail.
A move into planning is often used to sideline people who otherwise might present a threat. Still, it also often occurs that the move into planning is a way to give talent a broader experience perspective on the way to the C-suite. That Carolina wasn’t told in advance suggests that corporate politics is at work and that her boss may have sidelined her talent to avoid the threat to the boss’s position.
A Difficult Choice
If Carolina wants control of where she lives, her choice is to strike out on her own. It’s unlikely that the perfect job is just waiting for her. She can go to the CEO where she now works, explain that she no longer fits in and that she is willing to leave, and then she can ask for a severance package to give her enough capital to start her own firm. She may start her own elder haven, or she might work as a consultant.
If she is planning to take her talent, skills, and vision freelance, it might be enough for her to ask the CEO to keep her on the payroll for a month or two, so she can have an income and health insurance while she finds her first clients. If the CEO agrees, she’s all set. If the CEO says, “Begone,” then she’s also all set, but with no obligation toward her former employer.
Of course, the CEO might recognize her talent and want her to stay. In that case, the CEO can change the purpose of the planning assignment from sidelining to grooming for the C-suite. That might not be what Carolina would want, though, and if the insensitive boss who sidelined her remains with the company, she would be wise to demur and to continue with the intention to move into self-employment.
It Takes Commitment
To get a consulting business off the ground, she will need to work freelance harder than she ever worked as an employee. She will be out there networking, writing and publishing, attending meetings, giving presentations, and generally demonstrating her skills to lift her clients to shine in the marketplace and to attract the enthusiasm of salespeople. Starting her own care home will be even harder.
The most rewarding aspect of leaving corporate politics behind will be the opportunity to move beyond the narrow constraints of her prior employer. She may, for instance, become an expert in the use of artificial intelligence to bring new opportunities to American households. That may be for senior living, or it might be something brand-new that brings value to people of all ages.
Assuming she’s as talented as she appears to be she’ll thrive on her own. Product people understand marketing, including how to market themselves. Moreover, we can assume that Carolina is very talented. If she weren’t, her boss wouldn’t have felt so threatened that she or he had to work the levers of gossip to remove the threat without Carolina’s knowledge.
Carolina will thrive. I’m not sure about the company that she will be leaving. When companies fall prey to corporate political maneuvering, failure is often not far behind. Let us know what you think in the discussion box below.
John Hadley can be reached at https://jhacareers.com. His approach is unique and effective.
