Lessons from Disappointments and Hardships

A couple of months ago, our company issued their annual pay adjustments to their employees. Everyone received their salary adjustment memos within several days of interval. I received my copy a week after the others as I am mostly out because of meetings and presentations.

To my dismay, I have been given the same adjustment as my peers with no differentiation for performance and consideration for industry averages. It’s as if it was an across the board increase. I did not sign my memo, and I took up my issue to my superiors.

The company had a tough year. I was mad at myself, asking on whether I will choose to stay or move on to another company who can provide better.

It was because of the story of 2 people that made me wrap my decision.

The first is about one of our technical engineer who used to be a construction worker before joining our company. He is our gentle giant here in the office. He said that working with our company changed his life that he now no longer has to gather swamp cabbage (kangkong) from the river just to have something for their dinner. Thre company has given him a chance to be stable and work on something he can be more proud of.

The second is from my mentor (our VP) about his experience from AIM (Asian Institute of Management). During the time when he failed his graduation, his professor described him in front of their batch to be one of the smartest guy that that he had known.  He could have easily made it as a summa cum laude if he had enrolled in a MBA school. However,  he is at the tail of his batch because he failed to deliver.  In the mind of my mentor, half of his head is telling him that it is bullshit, while the other half is trying to process what he had just heard. He has now graduated from his course.

It’s during our conversation that he tells me  that it’s not a question of one’s skill and intelligence, but our ability to deliver the results and the bottomline.  I may be better than my other peers but they delivered the result that they were expecting.  It was a question of figures and not hard work..

In one coaching article by Marshall Golsmith, listed by the American Management Association as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management, he shares his insights for similar situations such as mine.

Forgive yourself. You are an adult. You chose to work with your company. In a way, you made a bet. Sometimes our choices don’t work out as planned but this does not make you a bad person – just a human being.

Reassess the situation. One of greatest challenges is to learn the meaning of “sunk cost.” What’s done is done. Let it go. Objectively reconsider your situation. Given the world that exists today, do you want to stay? If so, make the best of where you are. Do you want to leave? If so, begin searching for another job.

Remember your deeper mission in life. Behave in a way that optimizes benefit for yourself and the people that you love. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face by letting your anger override your logic.

For those who are reading this article, I hope I was able to share something with you with the stories and suggestions above.