A Chronicle of Disengagement
For me it happened in the COVID unit at Cincinnati’s Christ Hospital in August of 2020. It was the moment when I realized it was time to change up my career. I was one of the unicorns with no underlying conditions except for bad luck that led to me contracting a critical case of COVD-19. It landed me on a ventilator for over a week, along with an all-expenses paid 30-day stay in a COVID unit with a 24/7 view of the city skyline. I had made it through the worst of it and was starting to think about getting back to my life. While it would be weeks before I could return to work, I made the commitment to myself that I would move on in the next eighteen months to a company that would make me feel excited about my work again.
It wasn’t the tactical things like remote work, safety protocols, return-to-work plans. It was the big things - things like living out my potential, doing meaningful work, and using my gifts that caused the change of heart for me. While a punch from the back of the room like a health crisis can jumpstart these moments of reckoning, for me it was more the silence, the solitude, the thinking that brought me to my realization. I was alone in my head with my only company being an occasional family phone call and visits from the staff. It was in those moments that I came to a personal reassessment of how I would spend my time on the other side of this blindsiding moment. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew it was coming and I was at peace with it.
I’m not an overly idealistic new hire with an itch to explore career possibilities. I had been with my company for over twelve years and recently worked closely with the executive team as we transitioned to new ownership. Something just clicked as I reassessed my life and how I wanted to move forward from that point in time. While it was easier to stay – I knew the system, the people, the vision, the plan – I had already crossed the tipping point and would have to act -- eventually. I’ve always been a calculated risk taker, willing to chance something but always with a contingency plan. But I had peers, friends, and teams that I respected and felt responsible to and accountable for. It would be hard, but I decided to stay fully present and engaged in my role while biding my time for the right opportunity.
While my catalyst for change may be unique, I’m one of millions who have pondered or acted on a plan to step away for something new. One in four workers have now resigned from their jobs in the last two years. Even more (65% according to a recent study by PwC) are planning their next move as I write this. As they sit in their personal solitude, reassessing their lives, many are arriving at the same conclusion I did: there has to be something better out there. Some of them will walk away. Others are on those hybrid schedules and video calls right now--doing their work, nodding their heads, and waiting. The stats around the Great Resignation have been stated and repeated numerous times and it has gotten the attention of the CEO community. So much so that 68% of CEO’s surveyed by Fortune & Deloitte have ranked “a focus on purpose” as a key priority in moving forward.
We know that working toward a shared purpose is core to employee engagement. We also know that being inspiring is a challenge when leaders are in survival mode. We have been pivoting and adapting for nearly two years now and the thing that falls through the cracks is that conversation about why we exist, what we are chasing and why it matters. You may not be thinking about this, but I assure you your employees are. Now is the time to find out what’s on the mind of your people. And purpose has never meant more than it does right now.
