Many of us feel underutilized.
We want to do more, get more credit, accomplish more goals and be more valuable than the others. With unemployment being where it’s at and everyone, who is employed, trying to prove their worth; we welcome the opportunity to wear additional hats. We think ” if I do the job of 4 people they will never want to get rid of me”. At least that is what many of us are led to believe. By doing the work of 4 people, are we really accomplishing tasks at that same level? Probably not, but that’s the world we live in.
Many people want to do more because they hate what they are currently being asked to do. As a manager, I cannot tell you the number of times I have had to put together a calculated response for an employee that has asked to do more, but was not great about doing what was being asked. You don’t want to lead them on. You don’t want to discourage. You should want to use this moment as a teaching opportunity. It isn’t always easy and often managers fail when they are put into these situations.
There are people who feel they have the free time to do more tasks or something different because they don’t like what they are currently doing. They treat their assignments as annoyances and never accept them as part of the definition of their title. It’s beneath them….even though it might be the core of their job. (Half the reason we come up with fancy names for not so fancy jobs). Like kids with toys-the best toy is the one in the OTHER kids hand.
If you are in a situation where you feel you should be doing more or something different-take a look at your current body of work. Are you giving your current position the amount of attention it needs? How many times have you, or your department, dropped the ball? What’s the perception of your position in your work environment? People feel underutilized because they are not doing something they enjoy. On the other hand, they are not proving to their manager that they are capable of doing more. If the perception is that you are swimming in the amount of work you are currently being asked to do-then others will not be open to you taking on more or different tasks.
“Hey boss, I know you have written me up twice this quarter and we are only at 80% of our goal, but I would be way more productive if I was doing this other job instead”. Right… If you fall into this example, perhaps you need to spend a little more time evaluating your abilities. Time for a gut check. Some people are great at another job and not great in their current position. Good managers should be able to evaluate and cast people in the roles they are meant to play. That is for another blog at another time….
Unfortunately, there are people who are so good at their current position that they will never get promoted. They excel to the point that their employer is afraid to move them to something else. If you are unable to grow based on the insecurities and comfort level of your employer, than It might be time for a change of scenery. Yet, you need to make sure you are ACTUALLY one of these people and not the person who is blinded by their biased self evaluation. Time for another gut check.
We are all not doing the extract job we would prefer to do. (Even the boss would prefer to do some of the aspects of your job over what they might have to do). It could be based on level of enjoyment, environment, money, challenges or whatever. All of us are motivated differently. Almost all of us can do more and probably feel underutilized and unappreciated in some way. You are not alone in any of this. Before becoming a disgruntled employee, make sure you do an accurate and truthful assessment of your situation. You would be surprised how many of your issues are self inflicted and not products of your environment.
#blog #gutcheck #underutilized #unappreciated
