As another month comes to an end, I’m wondering where it went. Time flies when you are having fun, so I must be having loads of fun! As I am sitting here trying to seriously figure out where my June went, I realize that the word of the month for June is CHANGE. So much fun, excitement, and terror in such a little word.
We are all a work in progress and change is unavoidable while progressing. When I undertake something new, my friends are always my cheerleaders. I wouldn’t expect anything less because I choose to surround myself with people that feed my energy, not drain it. Who would want to keep a friend that condemns attempts at progress and only wants to reminisce about the good old days? The good old days were great for that time in my life, but the vision for my future is greater.
The same can be said for a company, yet people are quick to denounce a company because it is not exactly where it needs to be. If you were genuinely trying to progress, how would you feel if someone was constantly undermining every move you make as not enough or pointless. We are all a work in progress, we just need the time and cheerleaders (encouragement) to get there.
That being said, I actually did have loads of fun this month. I had the pleasure of traveling to our offices this month to discuss some initiatives. In the midst of all that excitement, I got to try my first ever Allsup’s burrito and even though I was terrified about the repercussions of eating a gas station burrito, I was pleasantly surprised!
In the name of progress, I’ve been working my ass off all month and those first 4 paragraphs are a post I made on Linkedln because one of my new initiatives is being more present in that platform to network and make connections because you never know.
I did spend time this month traveling to offices trying to get everyone onboard with a new initiative. The initiative is trying to get everyone onboard with sending their reports to review by QA/QC prior to sending them to the clients. Sounds simple enough, but apparently not that simple because even though the owner of the company has said that this needs to happen, it hasn’t, hence the office visits. We wanted a chance to explain why we are doing this and give others a chance to ask us any questions they might have and/or explain why they are not onboard. We wanted to have professional adult conversations and we did in most places but were met by some hardcore resistance from one particular project manager. She literally just got up and walked out of the meeting because she didn’t have time for this and was super busy. I just could not fathom ever being this way. What empowers someone to feel that they are above simple tasks that are being asked of them. Especially tasks that would ease some of their load, add no costs to their project, overall make her final deliverable to the client better and therefore make her look better. The crazy thing is that its not even an option, its policy and as soon as accountability starts, it’s going to be a reality check, so why go through all the trouble?
Maybe accountability is the key word. If she has never been held accountable, she thinks that she can tantrum her way out of this one. It is truly disappointing because aside from my boss, she is the only other female project manager in the company and I was pretty excited to meet a strong female in a role I want to have one day. She told us how hard it was for her to gain the trust of the men in her office. I asked her how she managed to get their trust and then aligned where I was coming from with what she said and finished by asking how I could gain her trust and prove to her that I was not questioning her credentials or her science, emphasizing that we just want to standardize the product we are delivering to our clients.
It had been a while since I struggled with different personalities at work and I’m such a pleaser that I want everyone to like me, so this hurt extra hard. It is going to hurt even harder if the accountability isn’t there after I already put myself out there, that is my worst nightmare! Hopefully all the change/progress is not all talk.
Thankfully being so consumed with work has distracted me from my own personal chaos that is brewing. Living with my boyfriend’s, who is my partner, definitely not my fiancé, but kind of like my husband, parents. Stay tuned for that excitement.
Nancy's Rocking Thoughts 