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I applied for an internal posting and now my whole department knows... Some of them are treating me as their enemy.

July 2005

Dear Office-Politics,

I applied for an internal posting and my whole department came to know about it... Now, some of them are treating me as their enemy. My immediate supervisor stopped giving me new responsibilities. I was sidelined for courses and learning opportunities.

It is not officially stated in black and white that I would be going over to the other department, but there have been rumors going around. I am not able to verify that, as the boss of that department is currently on medical leave, but she has mentioned before that "it should not be a problem".
This thing has been going on for more than half a year. My relationship with fellow colleagues is getting more and more strained.

Should I find another job or wait and see if I could move to the other department?

Wish-I-Was-Anonymous

Dear Wish-I-Was-Anonymous,

Are you sure that you have only two choices -"find another job or wait and see"? That's what is called "two-way thinking." The more sure you are that there is no other option, the more stuck you're going to feel.

It's time to ask yourself some new questions. Can you be more proactive? Tell your immediate supervisor how you're feeling? Find ways you can show you are 100% committed, up to and until the moment when you move? Enlist the help of someone (HR, perhaps) in clarifying your situation?

And if you must return to your original two choices, consider the advice a newspaper columnist used to give to people considering divorce: "Are you better off in this situation, or out of it?" Thanks for writing to Office-Politics.

Betsy Raskin Gullickson
Co-author, On the High Wire: How To Survive Being Promoted
Consultant / Executive Coach