Kevin Pietersen Is Not Alone When It Comes To Second Innings’ Challenge

Saying ‘yes’ to returning to a previous employer, is to me a difficult proposition. If my last memory of the workplace was one filled with positivity, will I be able to recreate the good memories of days bygone? And if I left feeling frustrated, would I be able to start on a “clean state” and invent “new experiences”? Though no choice is guaranteed perfect, from experience, when most of us say “yes” to return to a past employer, the battle to “self-create” and to anticipate beginning on a “clean slate” are there to be fought.

Do you dread returning to your former employers? But then many have been successful in their second innings.
I’m keenly observing the Kevin Pietersen comeback bid, the South African-born English cricketer who recently made a desperate attempt to get back into the England international side. Pietersen has been quoted as saying, “I want my England place, and I think I deserve my England place. “And when his hopes were dashed by Strauss, he tweeted just last Saturday: “No one is guaranteed selection. I was told there was a clean slate. I wanted to earn my place back.”

I hope you’re not missing out on the key phrases used by Pietersen in his attempt at “second innings”: “no guarantee”; “clean slate”; and “earn my place back” are the very phrases you hear being thrown around quite loosely by corporate “boomerangs” too.

I’ve thought of these phrases all too often when I re-hired former employees – something which I will continue to do especially when I’m faced with the gap of finding new people with a particular skill set. However, I’ve come to realize that it’s almost always a tough second innings due to the dynamics which take place at resignation; while away; and upon returning:

At Resignation:
They indicate that the current role or organization did not hold much promise for them in terms of career growth (title; salary; maybe the boss and job responsibility) hence they shun strong retention gestures and upsetting some egos/sentiments in the process.

• At Resignation:
  They indicate that the current role or organization did not hold much promise for them in terms of career growth (title; salary; maybe the boss and job responsibility) hence they shun strong retention gestures and upsetting some egos/sentiments in the process.
• While Away:
  Their subordinates received significant growth (title and salary) to fill in the vacuum while the employer is able to indicate new style of work which their successor easily adapts and implements the new way of working.
• Upon returning:
  They have to accept that starting on a “clean slate” actually means validating their return by adapting to a slightly changed atmosphere and culture; having to beat the doubt that they wouldn’t quit again; and to “hit a single” faster and more successfully than someone new!!.

So why do talent choose to return to past employers?

1.Poor adaptability skills compounded by the fact of missing familiar grounds especially for
those who have clocked in far too many years with a past employer;
2.New pull factor which most times refer to a new boss at the previous work place who brings
with him/her a new sense and style of working alongside brand new success strategies;
3. Feeling of regret from a hasty decision to leave.
As for me, I have politely declined second innings offers as I’m inclined to believe that it’s hardly possible to recreate the good memories I have had working for them. In addition, these offers came at a time when I wasn’t being “pushed” to bid farewell to my current employer nor the job I’m in.

Now, that’s just me. I know many people who have done extraordinarily well on their second innings and I salute their resolve to return. You might just be one of them…

I pray that I continue my streak of running the length of the pitch, exchange positions with decisiveness and ground my bat where it should rightfully be grounded to avoid any second innings. But then again, life sometimes has a funny way of upsetting our runs, don’t you think?

“To me, recreating that note/beat on returning is a challenge.”

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