Wed 10 Jun 2009
I was recently promoted to management….yikes. I have never had any desire to be a manager. I really don’t have a lot of drive or ambition. I am all about quality of life. So, how in the world did I ever get promoted? Well, I am a Virgo and I like everything to be neat and orderly, which applies to my job as well as home. When I am at work I try to make things go as smooth as possible. I work really hard on my relationships with my management and my peers. If I am going to a job I am going to do it right. I rarely complain. Whatever work is given to me, I find a way to get it done. No matter what obstacles are thrown my way. Hence, my manager promoted me. I considered saying ‘no’. My husband encouraged me to say ‘no’. He has been down the management path and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. But, I said ‘Yes’. I thought, ‘this will be good for me’. ‘I need to step outside my comfort zone and try something new.’ ‘When an opportunity like this is presented to someone, it is a gift and I should just go with it.’ Now I have 10 people reporting to me and all the responsibility associated with it. Now I am saying ‘I am in over my head’. ‘I have no idea what I am doing.’ ‘Can I request a demotion?’ I just read an article by the author Michael Cunningham entitled ‘A writer should always feel like he’s in over his head’. I am thinking maybe that should apply to everyone. If you never get in over your head how will you grow? Everyday I remind myself of these things: I will get my arms around this new job. I can only do what I can do. I can only know what I know. Don’t obsess about the things I have no control over. Most importantly for me, don’t take things personally. This new job is all part of my journey and I need to take deep breaths and just go with the flow.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Hi Angela,
I just read your post and felt like I was reading about me. I worked for a non-profit for a number of years learning and growing into a director position. The work was always at breakneck speed but I started out as an intern and “grew” into knowing what I knew. There wasn’t a plan or a strategy I just did the work and worked really hard. I was also good at what I did - planning events and getting great publicity. I left the organization for a for-profit company because I was burnt out and needed to expand my horizons. I worked up through December of last year and was frazzled to a crisp because of the type of work and the unreasonable demands of the company. After the layoff I panicked and my self-confidence went down the tubes. I recently found a position with a new non-profit and thought it would be like “going home” - you know, working for a charity organization and just diving in and doing the work. This organization is different, the people are different and the job is overwhelming to me. There are many things I know and many more things that I don’t know at all. I’m scared to death and I don’t have a clue where to begin. The fear is causing me so much anguish. Luckily I don’t have to manage people but I am in a position where obvious results will be expected. I’m always too hard on myself (mabye you are too?) but I’ve always believed I could do anything I set my mind to. But I’m even questioning that now. I don’t mean for this to be a depressing reply but I wanted to echo the feelings you are dealing with.
I hope that you do well at your new job. And it’s true that pushing through fear and tackling the very thing that’s causing you pain will be beneficial in the long run. I hope we can both get to that happy place where we feel as if we’re good at what we do!
June 19th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Yes Sue, it does sound like we are having very similar experiences right now. I think there is added stress to perform well, with the economy in the state it is currently. There are definitely times that I feel like I am just not doing a very good job, and maybe I am being to hard on myself and maybe I’m just not doing a very good job. When I really start getting down on myself I go for a walk. Walking is my savior. It really helps clear my head and gives me time to contemplate away from the computer. When I am on my walk I try to look at things from different angles. Sometimes I think ‘I really did not handle that situation well and I need to do something different next time’. Other times I say to myself, ‘you handled that completely appropriately and there is nothing else I can do. So, just let it go’. Bottom line I try to do the best that I can do everyday. I make lots of mistakes along the way and I just try to learn from those mistakes. And when the work day is over, I leave it at work! Good luck to you! Thank you so much for your post. It’s good to know that I am not alone.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Hello Angela,
I was promoted to supervisor after working as a lead technician for many years. It took me a while to make the adjustment. One book that really helped me was “The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey” by William Oncken and Hal Burrows. It’s short, to the point and gives some good hypothetical situations for the authors’ ideas.
One thing I learned almost immediately is that you can’t do your old job and your new one too! Give your people the responsibility AND the authority to do as much work (without supervision) as they are capable of doing, reliably. The tendency is for them to come to you with a problem and then wait for you to take some action to solve THEIR problem. Don’t let them put you on the hook if they can solve it themselves. You have enough to do already without doing what they should be capable of doing. Gently push them to learn and you will be rewarded with less “problems” in the future. Sincere praise when they succeed is good reinforcement for both of you. It’s like the old parable about giving a hungry person a fish instead of teaching them how to fish (support themselves).
It’s not as difficult as you think it is right now. Also, look around your company (or somewhere similar) for a good position that you could ask to be a mentor to you. Sometimes a quick phone call to your mentor can solve a problem that you could struggle with for many hours.
You have internal and external resources all around you. You just need to see them and develop them.
Good luck in your new position.
Mark
July 24th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Hi Mark,
Great advice and timely. I have fallen into the trap of ‘I must solve all my people’s problems’. Thank you so much for your post.
Angela