Time to Move On

 

Sure Signs It's Time to Go

Upon reflection, I think I stayed too long. The goal was to make positive change, and to create a listener service with a unique value for our public radio audience. A noble goal under appreciated by the people I worked for. In the end, the changes were made through tenacity. That tenacity may have had too high a price.

After turning around the station's unique value proposition among those who use public media I was let go. It happens. Change agents are often rewarded with exit papers. There's always uncertainty that comes with change. Despite our best efforts to inform senior management that change can be difficult, and that steadfastness is needed to endure the storm that accompanies change, senior management was not prepared.

My tenacity led to my disappointment.  The signs were there long before my exit. 

There's a passage in the Bible about going into a situation were your voice is being ignored.

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.
- Matthew 10:14

And the second part?

There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.
- Arundhati Roy, Ordinary Person’s Guide To Empire (2004)

In all, it was a nine year journey to convince the major stakeholders that a shift was coming in audience expectations. The signs were there early on that we had hit the glass ceiling. Audience and development numbers had already flattened. It was only a matter of time. The downward turn was coming. I rang out the warning, presented the evidence and got ignored until it all began to collapse.

I should have left before that. It is a weakness to think you can change behaviors, when you can only change your own.

How do you know it's time to move on?

According to Destiny Agbanimu there are ten sure signs it's time to move on.
(LinkedIn October 2021)

1. Your trust is broken time and time again.

2. The situation makes you feel bad about yourself. It is time to leave and find a situation where you are appreciated.

3. The situation has lowered your self-esteem. 

4. When you think back, you are unable to think of the last time you were genuinely happy.

5. The relationship is not 50:50. It is time to find a relationship where you are treated as an equal.

6. You do not feel like you can openly express your opinion. you should never stay in a situation where you are not allowed to have a voice.

7. Promises are never followed through on. 

8. People want you to change into someone that you are not. If you are asked to go against your values and beliefs, or if the person has no consideration for how much that matters to you, then they do not respect you.

9. When words never match actions.

10. When the other person is too needy.

Much was accomplished. The cost was too high.

Destiny Agbanimu is a Business Development Manager | Product and Innovation Specialist | SDG 4 & 8 Advocate | Development Researcher.