I feel like walking away from my company

Dear Aunty B,

I recently joined our organisation as head of sales and my job has morphed more into one of general manager, as I have had to turn the place around, because in the last two years there has been poor focus on delivering high quality products in favour of buying new companies and products.

I felt the battle had been won when the boss sent around a paper I sent to him which I called The New Way in which I outlined the focus and resources needed to make sure we focused on existing business and customers as well as chasing new ones. We have set up a number of meetings to talk about how we need to change and I felt optimistic for the first time in ages.

And now I get to work today and learn that we are doing another acquisition. Honestly, I feel like walking. That effectively means this place will be in chaos for the next year and I won’t get any cut-through. This has got to the point where it is bad for my personal brand in the marketplace.

Aunty, what do I do? I have invested so much energy and focus on this.

Ideas please!
Victoria

Dear Ideas please,

You can’t walk. Your business needs you! If I were you I would do this: first tell the boss he needs to make you the GM. Make sure you spell out your concerns. It is a great thing to have a fantastic member of staff come up and give you a big lecture when it looks like you are going to take your eye off the ball.

Second, start working on a detailed integration plan for the acquisition. Third, make sure that fits into The New Way. Fourth, just keep reminding everyone that you can do acquisitions up the wahzoo but most don’t work because one, they were stupid decisions in the first place and two, they were never integrated properly and three, they took everyone’s eyes off the core business which is retaining, growing and attracting new customers. On the other hand, get it right and it can be the catalyst to take the business to the next level.

This is your chance to play a greater role in the organisation while building your skills. Drop that personal brand stuff and start acting like the leader you are designed to be!

Be smart,
Your Aunty B

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