Don't Burn your Bridges!

The phrase “Burning your Bridges” can be traced to military action of burning a bridge you have just crossed to prevent your enemy from crossing it after you. It also meant that it stops you from the thought of retreat and forces you to advance. In businesses today, ‘burning bridges’ could mean that there is no way of going back to the previous ways of doing things. It is a ‘push’ to enforce ‘change’ - a deliberate way to help people concentrate their minds on moving forward.

However and at a personal level, it is probably prudent not to burn your bridges as you progress in your career. Should you do a Google search on ‘Manpower Attrition’, invariably the top reason that comes up is that people don’t leave good organizations, they leave poor managers. The question that immediately pops up in the mind, “How could we not burn bridges, while leaving poor managers?” While there may not be a quick fix solution or a ready-made answer, it would still be wise to look back or reflect on the past incidence or incidences that culminated in the tearing need for a hasty departure.

It wouldn't be incorrect to say that building a relationship, whether at a personal or professional level requires sheer hard work, grit and determination, not discounting the element of investment on time! But for a small percentage, for a majority of entrants as salaried employees, their future is etched on the first job or profession they get into, whatever be their academic background. A Banker always remains a Banker! In the career spanning 30 years, he/she may hop around different banking organizations or choose to navigate within the various departments in a branch or move to other branches of the same banking institution, but this person remains firmly grounded in a bank. Likewise, it is the same for Life or Health Insurance folks, or engineers working in a particular type of Industry viz. Cement, Fertilizer, Steel. The more recent additions to this list would be IT and ITES/BPO with personnel movement being similar to the earlier examples in traditional Industries. Then there are professions which seemingly do not have an alternative – Doctors and Lawyers. So we thought, until the ITES/BPO came along with their need of people from these two professions to cater to the ever increasing need of the outsourcing industry. It is a rarity that folks from a particular industry change over to a completely different one without a compelling reason. I would certainly fall into this odd category since I moved from the engineering industry in air & water pollution control to the ITES/BPO sector – a distant cousin of the IT industry, twice or thrice removed!! Finally, the question all should be asking is, “What connection does the above have with burning bridges?”

While young, and fresh in the work environment, it isn't possible to fathom the 30 year career span ahead of us – it is but natural to take it one day at a time. With a single minded focus on ‘income’ we wait for the salary to be credited to our account at the end of each month and watch it quickly disappear with dismay. In the beginning, the new found financial independence but impatience written all over the DNA, emotions could be mercurial and erratic! What could complicate things further is the foolhardy thought that ‘nothing could be worse than the present situation’ and at the first signs of heated discussion with an immediate senior – ‘Quit’ is the thought that races across the mind. Young and temperamentally immature, the first casualty is ‘reasoning skills’ when your own mind is playing games. Before long you are fighting your way out of the organization and your manager.

Now, didn't I say that “It’s a small world!”

A couple of years later, and after hopping across a few organizations, there is a good chance that you will bump into the same first person you had an argument with and quit. While you can talk your way into this organization because of your added experience and a specific skill or knowledge gathered over time, the chances of building the bridge that you destroyed to say the least, would be uphill task and that too, on a very steep incline. Your situation would be much like the mythological story of the Greek “The myth of Sisyphus” – This King of Ephyra was condemned to an eternity of rolling a bolder uphill then watching it roll back down again. Could your situation have been different? If only you had played your cards smartly and made a smooth exit in an amicable manner, the situation may have been totally different, after all. It is also quite likely that you would have been welcomed at the new organization with open arms and you would have hit the ground running! Perhaps, the future too would have held immense promise.

While at war, it is a fight to finish, it absolutely isn't in professional life…paths between a subordinate and senior will cross multiple times, given the scenario that we tend to remain within the industry vertical we started our career with. A close analogy is Gmail’s tag line: “Why delete messages when you can archive and use later!” It is the emotional maturity that we display at each crossroad that determines each time, whether we make it or lose it! It only makes sense to strengthen your bridges and create for yourselves a lifetime of opportunities. Don’t Burn your Bridges!!