Musing on Change
Mar. 26th, 2007 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuI don't much care for change. Not in my personal life, anyhow. I'm a huge fan ot science and the advancement thereof. But when it comes to my daily life--not so much.
So it came as an unwelcome surprise when the President of the company sat in on our departmental meeting at work a couple of weeks ago. He was there to announce a change in the make-up of our department, part of wider changes throughout the whole organization. Where once we'd had a single VP of resource development, we would now have a VP of workplace campaigns and a VP of individual (major) givers. The woman who had worked as the Admin Assistant to the original VP would continue to support him. I would be the assistant to the new VP.
We've both officially been filling the same position for a couple of years. But while she acted as the Girl Friday to our boss, I spent most of my time doing research, updating and adding and deleting data in our database, and generating reports. I liked that job. I was very good at it. I spent a lot of time up to my metaphorical eyebrows in the database, concentrating on one big project after another. And in the next cubicle, she was dealing with a million nitpicky details, juggling schedules and meetings and putting out fires of one sort or another. Many's the time I've said to her, "I've seen your job--and they couldn't pay me to do it."
Only now I'm doing her job. Without so much as a "by your leave" I was dropped into this newly created position. I was, to put it succinctly, Not Happy. I immediately began wondering if perhaps it was finally time--after nearly thirteen years--to look for employment elsewhere. But after discussing it with my lovely and talented wife, I decided that I'd see how things shook out before I made any decision.
After all, things are still up in the air. I don't really know exactly how much of my old job--working with the database--I'll retain. More importantly, when I talked to the newly appointed VP and she asked me if I had anything to share about the new arrangement, I told her quite bluntly, "I've seen [her] job--and it's not one I want." Which, I think, took her rather by surprise. But then, the departmental rearrangement took me by surprise as well. I think my announcement knocked her off her stride for a bit while we discussed what sorts of things she'd want from me. That wasn't my intention, but it may have turned out to be a rather well-timed bit of verbal judo.
Afterward, I told her that perhaps I was overly forceful in my choice of words. I wasn't saying I wouldn't do it, but I had reservations. And she said she wanted to know what I thought--and I told her. There will, in fact, be a lot more of the sort of thing I wasn't thrilled about doing. But we're settling into a working relationship slowly (more so than we might otherwise, I suspect, after I spoke my piece).
It's going to be very different from what I was doing before. I can tell that already. But having committed to myself that I'd give it a few months to see how the job shaped up before deciding whether I was willing to stay with it, I also decided that I'd do my best to do it well. I knew that my attitude about the job would have at least as much to do with whether I enjoyed it as the work itself. And it was a good decision.
I frequently feel like I'm thrashing around, but that's because I am. I'm doing something new--and learning, occasionally by learning, "that was a mistake--don't do that again." But learning how to do this job has its rewards too. It's a different sort of work, requiring a different kind of focus, and requiring me to develop new mental tools (I've picked my lovely and talented wife's brain already, and will again I'm sure).
It may even be good for me. Stagnation is never good. Which is not to say there won't be days when I don't like the new situation. But hell, there are always days like that in any job.
So it came as an unwelcome surprise when the President of the company sat in on our departmental meeting at work a couple of weeks ago. He was there to announce a change in the make-up of our department, part of wider changes throughout the whole organization. Where once we'd had a single VP of resource development, we would now have a VP of workplace campaigns and a VP of individual (major) givers. The woman who had worked as the Admin Assistant to the original VP would continue to support him. I would be the assistant to the new VP.
We've both officially been filling the same position for a couple of years. But while she acted as the Girl Friday to our boss, I spent most of my time doing research, updating and adding and deleting data in our database, and generating reports. I liked that job. I was very good at it. I spent a lot of time up to my metaphorical eyebrows in the database, concentrating on one big project after another. And in the next cubicle, she was dealing with a million nitpicky details, juggling schedules and meetings and putting out fires of one sort or another. Many's the time I've said to her, "I've seen your job--and they couldn't pay me to do it."
Only now I'm doing her job. Without so much as a "by your leave" I was dropped into this newly created position. I was, to put it succinctly, Not Happy. I immediately began wondering if perhaps it was finally time--after nearly thirteen years--to look for employment elsewhere. But after discussing it with my lovely and talented wife, I decided that I'd see how things shook out before I made any decision.
After all, things are still up in the air. I don't really know exactly how much of my old job--working with the database--I'll retain. More importantly, when I talked to the newly appointed VP and she asked me if I had anything to share about the new arrangement, I told her quite bluntly, "I've seen [her] job--and it's not one I want." Which, I think, took her rather by surprise. But then, the departmental rearrangement took me by surprise as well. I think my announcement knocked her off her stride for a bit while we discussed what sorts of things she'd want from me. That wasn't my intention, but it may have turned out to be a rather well-timed bit of verbal judo.
Afterward, I told her that perhaps I was overly forceful in my choice of words. I wasn't saying I wouldn't do it, but I had reservations. And she said she wanted to know what I thought--and I told her. There will, in fact, be a lot more of the sort of thing I wasn't thrilled about doing. But we're settling into a working relationship slowly (more so than we might otherwise, I suspect, after I spoke my piece).
It's going to be very different from what I was doing before. I can tell that already. But having committed to myself that I'd give it a few months to see how the job shaped up before deciding whether I was willing to stay with it, I also decided that I'd do my best to do it well. I knew that my attitude about the job would have at least as much to do with whether I enjoyed it as the work itself. And it was a good decision.
I frequently feel like I'm thrashing around, but that's because I am. I'm doing something new--and learning, occasionally by learning, "that was a mistake--don't do that again." But learning how to do this job has its rewards too. It's a different sort of work, requiring a different kind of focus, and requiring me to develop new mental tools (I've picked my lovely and talented wife's brain already, and will again I'm sure).
It may even be good for me. Stagnation is never good. Which is not to say there won't be days when I don't like the new situation. But hell, there are always days like that in any job.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-27 02:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-27 03:41 pm (UTC)