# The Career Lottery within a Support Function By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-02-24 Suppose one was hired to do a job. Upon arrival, one begins to do the job as the organization asks. Along the way, inconvenient truths about the organization's structure prevent one from successfully executing the work as prescribed. One has encountered an unspoken segment of the organization opposed to one's work. This is normal within most organizations. So, one continues with the change process as prescribed by the role one occupies. With effort and persistence, one will likely be successful. However, there are only some conditions where such an outcome is possible. The first is the organization is largely stable. Stability means the organization is more likely to assess and reconsider its internal structure and robustness, which opens up the opportunity for change. An organization in turmoil will likely focus on survival and achieving stability by only changing some things at a time. The second condition is that one's functional role is critical to the organization's bottom-line processes. In other words, change is more likely if one's functional role is not a support function such as HR, IT, or Analytics. Organizations rarely consider support functions critical when weighing change's costs and benefits. Many would prefer to expend energy and intentionality on direct economic functions. Most executives who proclaim otherwise are either trying to make one feel good or do not fully understand the actual cost of these changes. Essentially, they are all for the change as long as it is painless for them, and making you happy in the moment minimizes their short-term pain. Unfortunately, rarely is change easy. So, they quickly fold when it comes time to make real changes. One can hardly blame them if the organization is falling apart, but this does little to help one feel that their work is meaningful. As one encounters these situations, one will likely arrive at a plateau of career development that is almost impossible to overcome as growth requires change, and change is so rarely supported. One must be exceedingly lucky to get such an opportunity. The rest of us will wander around contemplating the point of it all while awaiting the next draw of lottery numbers. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Organization]] [[Business]] [[Executives]] [[Function]] [[Luck]] [[Development]] [[Change]]