They're Good this Season
On basketball and good seasons
Dear Rosie,
What do you think about the concept of seasons in the workplace? Do you think we should give the same grace and recognition to employees experiencing career plateaus?
I recently attended a Minnesota Timberwolves game with my husband, and it got me thinking about the parallels between sports seasons and career phases. I’m admittedly not the biggest sports fan but my husband’s passion is sports. I love the event of live sports - the music, the fashion, the cheering - so I definitely love the chance to be his +1 to a game.
We have a 16-month-old so whenever someone (anyone) asks us what we’re doing on the weekend, and we actually have plans outside of going on a walk, going to the park, and watching Love is Blind, we boldly share the details of our going out plans.
The weekend of the Timberwolves game, as we’d proudly share our plans of leaving the house and going out for date night, so many people would say:
It’ll be a great game, the Wolves are good this season!
Now, I don’t know much (anything) about sports. But I do know that some seasons are better than others. And sometimes there’s penalty or a change of coach or moving of players, but others times, it’s chalked up to a change of season or ‘better luck next year’ mentality.
Why don’t we give the same grace in a business setting?
I think it’s important to recognize that there are seasons of career growth and seasons of career plateau. And both should be recognized, included, and accepted.
Have you ever had a season of work where you feel like you’re knocking it out of the park? Maybe you’ve gotten consistent positive reviews, or you recently got a promotion. Maybe you got placed on a coveted project with an exciting new client or you’ve been placed on a new team to work with a leader you really admire. Maybe you’ve been included on one of those ‘best of’ lists featured in a high-profile business magazine or maybe you feel like you’re living in your purpose, truly doing work that consistently give you energy.
And then maybe the’re season of plateau. The work is interesting enough but you don’t feel challenged. Your company has done layoffs but you were ‘safe’ during the mix ups - the survivor’s guilt leaves you focused and steady, not wanting to make any waves. Or life outside of work is requiring more energy than normal and so perfection isn’t in the cards, it’s doing what you need to do to get by.
I wish leaders would look at those seasons of plateau and recognize that they’re just seasons. An employee shouldn’t be 100% all the time, because a part of being an employee is growth. A part of having a job is learning and making mistakes and getting better the next time around.
That’s the beauty about seasons. An employee, like a basketball team, might be better in their next season and with coaching, conversation, feedback, encouragement, and training they might just move from a season of plateau to a season of growth.
