Working from home during the Pandemic, you probably developed a radically different “new normal.” Perhaps you’ve had time to reflect, to enjoy family time, to rediscover hobbies and interests and passions. Maybe you even got a taste of how you would spend your time in semi-retirement. And yet … you’re not ready to retire, are you? You still want to be challenged. You still want to do great work and help others achieve their goals. You want to work with purpose and make a difference.
Some of these desires could be fulfilled in the corporate world. But your time away from the office – and the specter of returning to “business as usual” – have also highlighted some things you dread: Endless meetings. Not being listened to by senior leadership who “seem” to know more about sales than you do. Making other people a lot of money. Being told by your family that your mood changed on Sunday because your mind has already shifted to tomorrow’s business trip. And especially all that travel!
The Great Resignation
In a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article by Arianne Cohen, Anthony Klotz, associate professor of management at Texas A&M University says, “The great resignation is coming,” predicting that many corporate workers will choose not to return to the norms of their former professional lives. Klotz is among a growing number of experts noting that many corporate workers have experienced “pandemic-related epiphanies—about family time, remote work, commuting, passion projects, life and death, and what it all means.”
So, just what do these revelations mean? Big-picture predictions indicate that many corporate professionals will choose not to return to the “9-to-5 office grind.” After all, so many office workers have discovered the freedom of working remotely and the flexibility that makes it possible to be present for family and milestone events. The freedom to get together with friends. To tackle home improvement projects. To pursue hobbies and interests. To get enough sleep!
Home Away from Home?
For many sales leadership professionals, the business-as-usual grind includes work-related travel. Lots of travel. That means countless hours of windshield time. It means racking up frequent flyer miles in cramped elbow-to-elbow air-capsules. It means sharing personal space with strangers who might or might not be carrying the next virus variant. It means noisy hotels and slow room service and beds that are never comfortable enough. It means never quite finding that home-away-from-home because being on the road means you are too far away from loved ones.
Blessings from the Pandemic
As horrible as the Coronavirus pandemic has been, it has, for many workers, enabled work-from-home opportunities. For the first time in decades, sales leaders have been able to experience what it means to be home with family, to reconnect (even if safely social distancing) with friends, to take on those home projects and rekindle long-dormant hobbies.
Of course, this has also spawned a gut-wrenching question: “Do I really want to go back to the way things were? To live out of a suitcase? To spend so much time – too much time – away from family again?”
Alternatives for the Future
So, when a return to “normal” looms, as a seasoned sales leadership professional, you typically have some alternatives:
- Go back to the way things were – with those meetings and projects and shake-ups and travel.
- Retire and spend more time with family (while that sounds enticing, you really aren’t the “retiring type” are you?)
- Become a sales leadership consultant serving nearby small to mid-sized businesses – working from home and still using your experience and wisdom to make a difference to organizations in desperate need of sales leadership.
If the third alternative sounds intriguing and attractive – as it has for so many Sales Leadership Consultants serving clients as fractional time Outsourced VPs of Sales – let’s talk. Click Here or contact us today at 844.874.7253.
