I agree with the expert, Karen Firestone, that if Elizabeth can’t control her reactions to professionally work with her colleagues (particularly Claudia, someone her boss wants her to mentor) and if her manager picks up on this, then it may be time for her to work elsewhere. While some may view this as acting rashly or as building her “own glass ceiling” as one of the experts writes, I believe this may be the right decision in this case because her emotions are preventing her from being professional and may be harming her supervisor’s view of her, leading her to be viewed as “damaged goods” as Firestone writes.
That being said, I think it solely depends on the person, though, and requires self reflection. If Elizabeth, reflecting on her past relationship experiences, thinks that she will be able to manage her emotions in order to stay at her current job where she has a great financial situation, then I think she should stay. If she does not think she will be able to get over those feelings, then I think she should leave. If she is contemplating leaving the company because of it, then clearly the particular job isn’t so integral to her life that she can’t imagine losing it. However, it is true that she is currently in a fragile emotional state that may make her care less about her job now than she has in the past or care less now than she may care in a few weeks/months/years from now. It is also hard to make this decision given that whatever decision she makes while she is feeling this way will impact her in a few weeks/months/years from now while she may be feeling differently. That being said, all she can do is make a decision with the current circumstances she is in. So I think what it comes down to is figuring out how much she loves her job (sales) versus her company. If what she loves is the job that she could do elsewhere, then I think there is no reason not to explore her options that are available to her. She can explore those options to see if anything is comparable to what she currently has before making a decision.
If I was a manager, from my point of view, it appears I know the following things: Elizabeth has issues with Claudia and Brad to the point where Elizabeth does not want to travel with Claudia. I don’t think that the cause of the issues between Elizabeth and Claudia (a workplace relationship) should be that much of a focus as it is in the case. The outcome is the same: I must choose between what I think is best for Elizabeth, a long term, accomplished employee, and what may be best for the team by having a trained Claudia take on more work. Elizabeth is clearly a valuable member of the team– so much so that part of the intention of having her mentor Claudia appears to be so that Elizabeth can do more work. If I value Elizabeth’s work and sense her extreme discomfort with Claudia, I would have someone else mentor Claudia if there is another experienced salesperson.
