Rajiv had just joined a new organization, fresh out of college he was a mixture of excitement, anxiety and nervousness on his first day. But after a few weeks of working with unruly colleagues, a demanding boss who refused to reason and a in-general negative atmosphere, Rajiv decided to opt out of the organization.
On a little prodding Rajiv revealed that more than anything, it was disappointment that drove him towards quitting. While Rajiv may have had his reasons for quitting, disappointment at the workplace is a given and can serve to de-motivate an employee. But does it really warrant quitting, or should it be taken constructively and if so, then how?
The answers to the above questions are actually quite simple and can surely help Rajiv and his like in dealing with disappointment at work.
Before we begin, what are the causative factors that lead to disappointment at work?
The one thing to be kept in mind about disappointment at work is that it is not the result of one single factor, rather it is a culmination of various such factors that add up to give rise to an employee’s disappointment at work.
Following are a few causative factors that can lead to disappointment at work:
Unruly Colleagues: While unruly colleagues seem like an amateurish reason for disappointment at work, you might be surprised that most often not being able to gel well with colleagues is the main reason for people opting out of organization.
Anything can lead to disappointment from a colleague taking credit for work done by you or someone who loves to dump their work on you or maybe a colleague who prefers bullying you. However may these colleagues be not being able to adjust to them certainly tends to foster a’ rank outsider’ feeling in an employee which leads to disappointment.
Zero Communication: Communication is paramount be it at work or personal life, but it gathers more importance at work since it is only through communication that an employee can voice his grievances, air his complaints and convey his wants to his seniors.
Zero communication leads to dissent in one’s mind to stew over time which invariably leads to disappointment in the long run of things.
Lack of Appreciation and Motivation: Motivation and appreciation go hand in hand, as with due credit and appreciation an employee 
feels motivated to perform better at his workplace, but with a lack of the same comes a feeling of being undervalued and ignored in the organization.
If one’s contribution isn’t being recognized or valued by his seniors the zeal to perform consistently and at a high level reduces, this leads to disappointment.
Being overlooked: Constantly being overlooked and ignored when it comes to delegation of responsibilities has the potential to disappoint even the most optimistic employee! Being overlooked constantly might make an employee doubt his own abilities or might lead him to think that his abilities are not valued or suit to the organization creating disappointment in his mind, regarding work.
Clash of ideals: Most times employees are found to get disappointed when their very value system is found to be clashing with that of the organization. For e.g. An employee could be all for quality based work and find himself struggling to adjust within a quantity based workplace with little or no emphasis on quality.
This clash of ideals can lead to a personal disappointment within the employee as when the basic expectations of the organization differ a lot from those of the employee there’s bound to be dissent and disappointment.
While these are just some of the reasons that can lead to an unhappy employee at work, there are ways with which one can easily avoid workplace disappointments!
To begin with the employee should first be able to identify the factors that are troubling him and leading to his disappointments as it is only after this he deals with them.
Following are some ways to deal and prevent workplace disappointment:
Set Realistic expectations: Setting realistic expectations for oneself and also for the organization go a long way in preventing workplace disappointments. With unreachable goals and expectations set for oneself, the employee might not give himself due credit for the work that he accomplishes. Similarly with unrealistic expectations set for the organization, one can get disappointed even with a fairly good organization!
Set Timelines: One way to avoid being disappointed at the workplace is to set timelines for yourself; timelines ensure that you hold yourself 
accountable for work that is to be done and do it on time.
Moreover timelines allow you to be aware of what all is to be done and allow you to accomplish the same. And the feeling of having accomplished a particular quota of work before leaving work can do wonders to drive disappointment far away.
Believe in the power of conviction: Being convinced about every aspect of your work helps to avoid disappointment at work. Standing up and defending a piece of work takes a lot of conviction, which again comes from believing in yourself and the work that you do and most importantly doing it correctly!
Celebrate your Achievements: Celebrating your achievements no matter how small they are, is important if you want to avoid the blues at work! Celebration helps complete the sense of achievement and serves as a motivation to keep on performing at work.
Accept Constructive Criticism: Accepting constructive criticism at work is a skill that needs to be honed! Why call it a skill? Because one, first, needs to be able to accept criticism of their work in any form, be it positive or negative. Secondly one needs to learn how to use the criticism for their own betterment at the workplace and thirdly one needs to accept the fact that criticism is not leveled at good work but at work that needs a bit of sharpening and polishing.
Keep Communication Channels Open: Keeping communication channels open is not really that difficult, as long as you prefer being incommunicado! But 
communicating is the best way that there is to avoid dissent, disappointment, conflict or anything that fosters negativity at the workplace!
Talking helps clear things up, it helps one to get a third persons viewpoint. Talking is also instrumental towards helping one to come up with better ideas and thereby do a good job and avoid disappointment in any form at the workplace.
So if you find yourself ever to be in Rajiv’s footsteps, remember disappointment at work isn’t the end of the road and you can always deal with it and come out a much better and happier employee than before.
