Ina Teves, Organizational Development Consultant

Ina Teves is an organizational development consultant with a change management firm dedicated to making a difference wherever it goes by journeying with the client through the entire process of organizational transformation. Email your questions to ina.b.teves@gmail.com.

SECURE BUT BORED

Dear Ms.  Ina:

I’m no longer inspired at work.  I have nothing to complain about – my boss is okay, I am paid well, I get good perks, and I like the company. My last evaluation was good and I was given a raise, but it came to a point where I’m asking – is this all there is to it? I wake up, work, go home, have dinner, sleep, then the next day, it’s the same thing.

At work, it’s the same thing – go to meetings, make reports, find clients, make presentations, prepare the budget, defend the budget, etc. etc. etc. Am I going to do this for the next 20 or so years until I retire?

In suspended animation,

Dear Carla:

I like how you described your present career state: in suspended animation, which, technically, is a state of life where all vital bodily functions slow down just short of dying. And perhaps, you have captured just where you are.  Sometimes, despite the external indicators of success, inside, we reach a point where we have stopped growing. Like hamsters on a wheel, we feel we are running in no particular direction. For some, it might feel as though they have to keep running just to stay on the wheel and not fall off. 

You ask: is there all there is to it? From where I sit, there are two ways of looking at suspended animation.  You have a choice on which way to go.

Your career could be in a coma, or it could be in hibernation.

All the best,