It's been frustrating waiting for a transition to occur within my present company. The owner has been so late in arriving at action that I've lost my entire management team and the company is holding together by my will alone. It's spit not mortar keeping it aligned. The stress of this situation has been almost unbearable. I care deeply about the company I work for, I believe in what it offers and it affects close to one hundred people, so stakes have been high. I have both respected and admired the boss for nigh on fifteen years and only in the last six months have seriously questioned his judgement. The sector I work in has been hit with financial hardship and the loss of profit has made him lose sight of the primary objectives. I'm confident in the services we provide, knowing they are a necessity, I know the pendulum always swings back, it's how you ride it out that counts.
The new guy started last week and was prepared to let me go the first week. I perceived I threatened him in some way and he felt a fresh start would bode well for his success. I agree in theory, however a significant brain drain has left me as the one and only key to organizational knowledge and expertise. I am not threatened by him taking over my role, I feel excited about my next steps, however I needed to let him see me as an asset in order for the company to survive. Fortunately he sought input from company staff and decided to make me a good offer to stay on short term. I'm relieved. I wasn't worried about my finances, I've got a cushion, I was worried about our customers and stakeholders.
New guy apologized to me on Friday saying he'd vastly underestimated the workload and was already talking as though a much longer contract deal would be offered. I'm pleased with how it's going so far. Starting May 1, I will be home three days per week to pursue other contracts. I have already begun to put together a timeline for ensuring my agencies success into the future. I can't begin to tell you much stress has dropped off my shoulders in the last few days. I am leaving behind an operations role to become much more focused on individual projects, something I'm very good at.
When we work with our strengths instead of against them it brings personal and career satisfaction, I'm going to make it my goal to encourage myself and others towards recognizing and developing their own strengths. As I move into a consultative position I know with this focus I can't do anything but succeed.
