Got fired out of nowhere: not sure whether to stay, leave…
0 reactions
Got fired out of nowhere: not sure whether to stay, leave, or go back to university
I’ve posted here before. I’m in my early 30s, have a technical master craftsman qualification, and I’m currently in my first leadership position at an industrial company.
Recently, I was told pretty unexpectedly that the company was considering letting me go. It came almost out of nowhere because up until then I had mostly received positive feedback. I was told I had settled in well, was doing good work, and that things were generally going fine.
Looking back, I think a big part of the problem started with my onboarding.
The colleague who was supposed to train me barely did so, at least from my perspective. I had to figure out and organize a lot of things on my own. At the same time, we repeatedly disagreed about how I should lead my team.
He thought I needed to be much stricter, put more pressure on people, and sometimes take disciplinary action against employees. Whenever I had an issue with him, I addressed it directly with him in private.
Later, I found out that he had apparently been going to management in the background and giving them his version of events, including claiming that I wasn’t doing my job properly.
So apparently a completely different picture of me was being created behind the scenes than the feedback I was receiving directly.
Then suddenly the criticism from upper management was that I wasn’t “authoritative enough” and was too friendly with my employees. I was basically told I should bang my fist on the table more instead of simply asking people whether something could be done.
Another thing that makes me skeptical is how personal and petty some of the criticism seemed. One senior manager was apparently annoyed because I didn’t explicitly reply to an email, even though the issue he was asking about had already been dealt with and, from my point of view, didn’t require another response.
That manager also doesn’t have a particularly good reputation within the company. I’ve independently heard from several coworkers that personal relationships and who you get along with can sometimes matter more there than actual competence or performance. Obviously I can’t verify how much of that is true, but based on my own experience I’m finding it increasingly difficult to trust that level of management.
The most absurd part is my team.
I had managed to gain the acceptance of an established group of experienced tradesmen despite being a new and younger supervisor. They respect me, the work gets done, and we get along very well personally.
My team is now strongly backing me. They’re angry about the situation themselves, want me to stay, and are currently giving what feels like 200% so that upper management can clearly see that the team works and supports me.
To me, that is probably the strongest possible counterargument to the claim that “people don’t see you as a leader.”
My direct boss was also almost like a different person during the official meeting and went along with the criticism from above. In private, though, he talks to me very differently.
He has admitted that I was basically left on my own during the onboarding process, that many things didn’t go the way they should have, and that the decision might not be completely final yet. He even said there may still be a chance to convince the people above him to keep me.
And that’s exactly why I don’t know what to do now.
Even if I could stay, I’m not sure I actually want to anymore.
The job has some major advantages: very good pay, a short commute, and a genuinely great team.
At the same time, I have very little trust left in the management above me. If I can receive positive feedback for months and then suddenly almost get fired because someone has been creating a different picture of me in the background, while “good leadership” apparently means being more authoritarian and banging your fist on the table, I’m not sure I’d ever be happy there long term.
On top of that, I’m increasingly fed up with the actual job itself.
I’m expected to fully perform the leadership role while also regularly doing unpleasant physical work in a dirty and potentially hazardous industrial environment. Some of the work is genuinely dangerous and potentially harmful to your health, and there is also a strong anti-PPE culture in the company that you constantly have to push back against.
So right now I’m considering a few options:
1. Stay, if my boss can still convince management to keep me.
2. Since I don’t really want to keep doing physical work, study Electrical Engineering and later move towards building automation, industrial automation, controls, or smart buildings.
3. Or study Industrial Engineering with Electrical Engineering and combine my technical background with business, project management, and leadership.
4. Take a short break and then look for a better employer.
If money and career prospects didn’t matter at all, I’d probably study psychology or philosophy instead.
What would you do in my situation?
Would you still try to save the job because the pay, commute, and team are good?
Or would the loss of trust in management already be enough for you to say: even if I could stay, I don’t want to anymore, and I’d rather use this situation as a chance to start over?
source
I’ve posted here before. I’m in my early 30s, have a technical master craftsman qualification, and I’m currently in my first leadership position at an industrial company.
Recently, I was told pretty unexpectedly that the company was considering letting me go. It came almost out of nowhere because up until then I had mostly received positive feedback. I was told I had settled in well, was doing good work, and that things were generally going fine.
Looking back, I think a big part of the problem started with my onboarding.
The colleague who was supposed to train me barely did so, at least from my perspective. I had to figure out and organize a lot of things on my own. At the same time, we repeatedly disagreed about how I should lead my team.
He thought I needed to be much stricter, put more pressure on people, and sometimes take disciplinary action against employees. Whenever I had an issue with him, I addressed it directly with him in private.
Later, I found out that he had apparently been going to management in the background and giving them his version of events, including claiming that I wasn’t doing my job properly.
So apparently a completely different picture of me was being created behind the scenes than the feedback I was receiving directly.
Then suddenly the criticism from upper management was that I wasn’t “authoritative enough” and was too friendly with my employees. I was basically told I should bang my fist on the table more instead of simply asking people whether something could be done.
Another thing that makes me skeptical is how personal and petty some of the criticism seemed. One senior manager was apparently annoyed because I didn’t explicitly reply to an email, even though the issue he was asking about had already been dealt with and, from my point of view, didn’t require another response.
That manager also doesn’t have a particularly good reputation within the company. I’ve independently heard from several coworkers that personal relationships and who you get along with can sometimes matter more there than actual competence or performance. Obviously I can’t verify how much of that is true, but based on my own experience I’m finding it increasingly difficult to trust that level of management.
The most absurd part is my team.
I had managed to gain the acceptance of an established group of experienced tradesmen despite being a new and younger supervisor. They respect me, the work gets done, and we get along very well personally.
My team is now strongly backing me. They’re angry about the situation themselves, want me to stay, and are currently giving what feels like 200% so that upper management can clearly see that the team works and supports me.
To me, that is probably the strongest possible counterargument to the claim that “people don’t see you as a leader.”
My direct boss was also almost like a different person during the official meeting and went along with the criticism from above. In private, though, he talks to me very differently.
He has admitted that I was basically left on my own during the onboarding process, that many things didn’t go the way they should have, and that the decision might not be completely final yet. He even said there may still be a chance to convince the people above him to keep me.
And that’s exactly why I don’t know what to do now.
Even if I could stay, I’m not sure I actually want to anymore.
The job has some major advantages: very good pay, a short commute, and a genuinely great team.
At the same time, I have very little trust left in the management above me. If I can receive positive feedback for months and then suddenly almost get fired because someone has been creating a different picture of me in the background, while “good leadership” apparently means being more authoritarian and banging your fist on the table, I’m not sure I’d ever be happy there long term.
On top of that, I’m increasingly fed up with the actual job itself.
I’m expected to fully perform the leadership role while also regularly doing unpleasant physical work in a dirty and potentially hazardous industrial environment. Some of the work is genuinely dangerous and potentially harmful to your health, and there is also a strong anti-PPE culture in the company that you constantly have to push back against.
So right now I’m considering a few options:
1. Stay, if my boss can still convince management to keep me.
2. Since I don’t really want to keep doing physical work, study Electrical Engineering and later move towards building automation, industrial automation, controls, or smart buildings.
3. Or study Industrial Engineering with Electrical Engineering and combine my technical background with business, project management, and leadership.
4. Take a short break and then look for a better employer.
If money and career prospects didn’t matter at all, I’d probably study psychology or philosophy instead.
What would you do in my situation?
Would you still try to save the job because the pay, commute, and team are good?
Or would the loss of trust in management already be enough for you to say: even if I could stay, I don’t want to anymore, and I’d rather use this situation as a chance to start over?
source
| 0 mlx | |
| 1 | |
| 0 |