Re-negotiating your job

If what you’ve learned during your exploration of the organisation indicates that your job role or objectives are not workable, you may need to renegotiate your position with your boss. Some of the reasons you may find yourself in this position include:

  • The challenge is significantly different to the challenge that was on the table when you were interviewed
  • The challenge is impossible for one reason or another (financially uneconomic, illegal, impractical)
  • The challenge does not appear to exist, or, at least, there is no challenge apparent that requires someone of your level to fix it
  • The challenge is outside the scope of your job role as it currently stands
  • Someone is already addressing this challenge/the content of your job role is already covered by one or more others
  • There is no support or appetite in the organisation for this change.

In this circumstance, you and your boss probably need to adjust your expectations about what can be delivered and how. You will need to decide ahead of the meeting:

  • Whether this is still a challenge you want to meet
  • Whether you have the capability to meet it
  • What you are willing to do to meet it, eg change department and job title, run a different team, accept new parameters for budget, staff and way of working.