I saw your helpline and thought of asking for help. I m a sales guy aged 50 and recently joined a company.
It is neither a MNC nor a middle sized organisation. Considering the fact that this is new organisation i need to prove my worth.
There is tremendous pressure to perform. There is absolutely no support from the company people to send quotations etc which they take their sweet time and they give reasons like Covid -19 etc for the delay and they do not expect us to give reasons for failure.
If u look at it from my perspective , I have joined in the month of Feb 2020 wherein March-April and may were locked down months.
Just now the business has started signs to improve. Instead of supporting the team they keep on finding little faults which does not motivate but de-motivates me.
A colleague before me has already been sacked after 5 months and I am not sure when my turn will come. I feel it may be next month too.
I have not tried to reason out with them or they may say I am trying to give reasons for my failure.
On top of that I have been reporting to 4 bosses who just write to me as per their whims and fancies. Plz let me know what best I can do to survive this time frame.
I am just keeping mum bcoz there are no jobs available in the market and I am doing my best, In fact as this is an automotive industry it takes time to materialise and everywhere is there is a slowdown in business. I would not like to give reasons but still it becomes difficult to survive. Plz advice and help.
Ans: Dear SK, I can only imagine the agony that you are going through and I have been coaching many people on this since the time the lockdown began.
None of us knew what the Pandemic would mean and what it would do to our businesses or work or home. It has managed to create new situations that we have no idea of how to handle.
This has caused a lot of anxiety and strain and we have perhaps begun to imagine the worst.
But what if I tell you that the situation is changing and so will the situation at your office?
Will you be inclined to believe that?
Even the top management is behaving in a wayward manner as this is all new to them; especially working from home for many and not much facetime which I guess as a Sales guy you are used to.
Since the response from the markets are not so good, it is bound to show up as a poor performance on your record, this is a valid concern…but to go into work, everyday keeping this in mind may not be effective even with the smallest of tasks as the anxiety keeps you on the edge not doing much but worrying to save your job.
Also, what happened to your colleague may not happen to you. So why focus all your energies on something that may not happen?
Instead, simply focus on ‘realistic’ targets that are achievable at this time.
Also, since you have joined only early this year, I do feel, it is imperative for you to know really your hierarchy and reporting structure. If there are conflicts at the top and you are bearing the brunt, either you need to roll up your sleeves and ace the politics that possibly others are facing too or simply do what you can.
Step back and observe what is going on and for this, you need to be a little calm to understand the WHY of 4 bosses!
It may all but be an imagined stress and it might just need a bit of a tweak to be in a better rapport with each of them.
Sometimes, what is little, becomes big in the mind as it is cluttered with a lot of if and buts with either lack of information or simply creating stories out of apprehensions and fears.
Please take care of your health and this helps keeping the mind in a better space to deal with what is going on.
Ultimately, tell yourself: “NOTHING IS WORTH STRESSING OVER SO MUCH. Everything falls into place, once I take charge!”
Take charge and take care of your health. Best wishes.
