A Cautionary Tale for the Over-Prover

A couple of years ago at the height of a property boom in Melbourne, two of my neighbours decided to sell.

The apartments and circumstances were similar –

• Both neighbours listed around the same time.
• Both were listed for auction on the same day.
• The apartments were similar i.e. 2 bedroom, 1 car park, 1 bathroom, although Apartment One had a larger balcony area.
• Both did renovations and upgrades prior to selling.

But here is where things differed.

Apartment One did a top tidy – a nice paint job, refreshed the appearance of the apartment, fixed things that weren’t working. They spent about $10-$15K getting their place ready to sell.

Apartment Two however, did a stylish, extensive and expensive refurb of the bathroom, living area and kitchen – estimation about $100K+.

As you might imagine they got very different results.

But you might be surprised.

Apartment One sold for significantly more – not a small amount more, but $300K more.

Wow. I’m not sure why.

But what happened next was even more interesting.

The new owners of Apartment Two totally renovated before they moved in, even though it had only just undergone the very stylish and major upgrade.

Wow again.

WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS?

Refurbing a property before you sell can be like what happens when we resign, work out our notice and prepare all our hand over notes.

Think about it.

You’re getting the role ready for the new person to step in, and want them to have a good experience and a good opinion of you. 

Perhaps you’ve even got a dose of resignation guilt, or maybe are even worried that a new person will come in and expose that you didn’t really know what you were doing.

In addition to that, the burden of over-proof still resides with women with research as late as this year confirming that female leaders of any age have to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops to be considered equal to a male leader.

What you’re also forgetting however is that a new leader or manager might have different ideas, or want to make their own mark and head in a new direction.

Plus, what looks good for one leader, is different for another. It’s all so subjective.

Worse, you may exhaust yourself setting things up for your replacement so they just have to come in and press play, only to find out later that they totally changed the operational strategy and that extra effort was for nothing – and the only person who lost out was you – robbing from the personal to pay for the professional.

Or as one of my NFP CEO clients found out, the new incumbent got credit and even public recognition for all her work because she bent over backwards because she felt like she was leaving them in the lurch, and left the place with 12 months worth of execution in play.

FINAL THOUGHTS

When you’re resigning and planning your notice period and handover, if your imposter syndrome has kicked in, or you find yourself feeling the need to over-prove yourself, stop for a while and reflect.

Ask yourself: What would a wise, confident woman do? Then do that.

Of course you need to be professional, but approaching your exit strategy from a place of lack is never going to do you any favours as –

• At best someone else will get credit for your best ideas and amazing work, or
• At worst you’ll be so depleted that you struggle to either start in a new role operating at your best, or, if you’ve got nothing to go to, you’ll need to take extra time out to regroup just to feel confident enough to put yourself out there again – and we all know how terrifying that can feel.

As the saying goes: Fit your own mask first!

YOUR THOUGHTS? Drop me a note. Has this ever happened to you?

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• Four Resignation Fails to Avoid at all Costs

If you need help navigating a transitional period in your career be sure to reach out. I have a six month program that’s perfect for you – including resigning professionally without undermining yourself, landing a great new role, negotiating your worth, and creating your own amazing on-boarding experience that wows your new organisation.

My clients find themselves confidently executing strategic career moves and leading and succeeding far more easily, without exhausting themselves in the process.