Make Decisions for the Right Reasons

We've likely all heard of the Great Resignation. We've been witness these past couple of years to a lot of upheaval, opportunities, and changes to the way we've always done things. There have been a lot of job opportunities for technology leaders and instructional designers, and more recently, a lot of layoffs of those same positions. There's been a lot of movement in positions seeking higher pay, promotional opportunities, and work from home benefits.

All of these things speak to great growth in our industry - growth that has been accelerated as a result of the pandemic. It can be hard in this space to determine what to do next. What are the best decisions for the short term? For the long term? Are you leaving opportunities on the table by staying where you're at? Are you giving up a good thing by leaving?

Everyone will have different factors and constraints that influence how they make decisions. It's very easy for someone to offer you advice about what you should do. Should you leave a job with great job security for the chance at great opportunities to innovate and a higher salary? Well, that's easy for someone else to answer for you. They aren't the one taking that risk. Objectively, a decision may look very easy. Subjectively though, you have to make those decisions taking into all of the factors you can. Here are some high level points on the different factors to reflect on if you're trying to make a decision:

1. Even making no choice and doing nothing is still a choice. If this is what you choose to do, hopefully you are happy with that. Life is too short to be unhappy and to let your unhappiness make others unhappy.

2. What are your values? What roles and jobs match those values? Is there a way to shift what you're doing now to better align with your values?

3. How important is salary? Do you and your family need a higher salary for a better quality of life? Do you have enough money? What does that look like?

4. If you're trying to make a decision about work, are there other factors in your life influencing your happiness and mood that you need to disentangle emotionally?

5. How important is title to you? Is there a way to fulfill what a title might provide you emotionally and mentally without actually having a title?

6. Are you respected and valued where you are at? What does that look like for you, specifically? If you're considering changing jobs, will that new institution/company value and respect you more? What will that look like?

7. How is your work/life balance right now? Will it be better somewhere else?

8. If you're thinking of changing jobs, what kind of job security does this new opportunity offer?