Is there a difference between a breaking point and a tipping point? Does one lead to other? Does one cause the other?
What brings one to a breaking point?
The loss of a loved one. The loss of a job. Any loss?
Lack of perceived support at work? Feeling voiceless and unheard by a supervisor or other leader? Too small of a team to do all that is necessary? Needing to put in extra hours without extra pay? Systems out of whack with the needs of the people?
Is it a lack of processes? Pay not commiserating with experience? When one person states one thing is possible and another says the opposite? When the workplace cultures around one is changing, but one’s current employer is isn’t keeping apace?
Is it a long commute with high gas prices? Is it technology that doesn’t keep up with the needs of the work to be done? Is it inefficiencies which hinders productivity? Silos of duties and lack of collaboration?
These are things I grapple with and work to diminish in this current work market. It is definitely an employees market over an employers market. Candidates are asking for things they wouldn’t have in the past. They are coming to know their worth and are much clearer in what they will and will not accept in a role and in the workplace.
The reason I ask the above questions is to try and stave off team members deciding upon their breaking point, their tipping point in deciding to leave. I also ask these of myself to gauge my own breaking point, my tipping point. Of knowing when there is more to do, and when it may be time to step on to the next stone in my journey, my path.
How do you know when you’ve reached your breaking point? Your tipping point?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 