In this article, I will talk about When to Resign from any organization, including NGOs or religious institutions that you are involved in. I use the 12 guidelines below:
- When the organization no longer celebrates or values my talent contribution. If I persist where I am, I will be doing so at the expense of those who are eagerly waiting for what I have to offer. I go where I am celebrated and not tolerated!
- When the environment beyond my control, constrains my contribution. I find myself having to settle for less, instead of being encouraged to do the maximum with my knowledge and skills.
- When I am facing a “ceiling” to my personal growth. That is, I have exhausted all possibilities of learning and growth opportunities, including having a leader over me who is easily threatened by my progress.
- When I succeed in my workplace at the expense of my health and family. It is pointless to make millions, and lose the things that truly matter. Any temporary “sacrifices” in order to succeed in life should never become the norm to destroy other essential areas of life like having quality time to build strong families.
- When I am pressured into compromising my integrity and moral obligations that will break the law or cause harm to others and the environment. I have made up my mind to never be involved in giving or accepting bribes that pervert justice.
- When I have an unhealthy or an unlawful attraction to someone beyond a healthy friendship. As a married person, I need to intentionally distance myself from the opposite sex (other than my spouse) that I am attracted to.
- When I am involved in doing something that could be used against me to tarnish my reputation or blackmail me in the future, or anything that will cause sleepless nights or ulcers – I will walk away!
- When the team that I work closely with, no longer shares the same vision and operational core values that we agreed on when we started the journey together. This means our season of closed partnership is over. Therefore, we ought to part in good faith and release each other into our respective new seasons.
- When my most important partner, my spouse, can’t share my excitement and we quarrel endlessly over my work, causing a division between us. I will choose my spouse over my work. My qualification here is that I have a spouse who has proven herself in her partnership with me through ups and downs, selflessly.
- When I hear from God through prayer, confirmed by the Word of God and validated by godly counselors in my life – who will tell me what I need to hear, not just what I want to hear. I will be quick to obey first in spite of my lack of understanding.
- When I am not enjoying what I am doing and I need to drag my feet to work or meetings. There may be seasons or transitions where I need to first do what I don’t like before I can do what I like – that should not be forever. I will set a timeframe. To truly succeed, I need to do what I love and dare to say NO to many good things in life!
- When I have to be separated from my spouse for a prolonged period of time, or worse, work in different cities. If I have outstation assignments on my own, I always aim to come back to my family within 7 days turnaround time. I won’t trade my family for economic reasons. I believe we always have a choice. Acting on something because we think “We have no choice…” will always come with a heavy price , especially family breakdowns.[1]
“My Family Success Comes Before My Career and Business Success!”
The above are neither rules nor commands to be followed. Each one of us needs to discern what is best in each situation. But I think if you take heed of my advice above, it will do you good. It is pointless to make millions, if we ever lose our soul, our health and our family.
[1] Even before my children finished their studies and started working, I progressively prepared my spouse to travel with me as much as possible in my outstation assignments. Our 3 boys are all trained to do housework by themselves. Now that our boys have finished their studies and started working, I bring my wife along with me in all my outstation assignments.
Reposted from old website 6 Jan 2017
AUTHOR: Dr Peter Ting