I have a shameful confession to make… but first, let me give you some background:
In my old company, I was on a “leadership track.” That meant that my career had a logical progression to move away from technical skill development, and more towards management and leadership of visible initiatives. I always enjoyed getting into the nitty gritty of my job, but I always felt guilty about it. I should have had my eyes on bigger roles and projects that were reported to the CIO on on a regular basis. It was a lot of pressure that I never felt I was quite measuring up to.
In my new job, I have had to start learning from scratch. I have had to put my hands up in the air and admit that I just don’t know anything. I have had to stop and listen before I spoke. I have had to try to understand the dynamics around me and figure out what people think of each other and how to use new relationships to my advantage. It has been definitely a steep learning curve, and everybody else knows it. I can tell they think of me as the ‘newbie who doesn’t know anything’, and many think I just graduated college in May (ahem, it has been 7 years since that joyful day).
So, when I got an assignment by random chance (an intern left), I started to show my true colors, and everybody was floored. They were grateful to have someone around who had the technical skills and the communications experience to help them with that difficult project. I felt really good about myself.
Since then, and here is where the confession comes in, I have been actually enjoying burying my head in Excel spreadsheets and programming macros for entire days. I smile more. I laugh more. I tell people that I love working with them, and that I appreciate the opportunity. I have been glowing like I have never before.
Is it bad that I am enjoying being an Excel-macro-emails minion? Is it bad that I am enjoying doing data audits, creating presentations, and just being an SOM? (SOM = Subject Matter Expert). I literally can’t stop beaming and I am so excited to be around people who appreciate what I bring to the table, and who feel like their projects are running better than they would have if I had not been around.
Is it bad to enjoy the lack of responsibility this much?
abi
Photo Credit: http://www.cafepress.com/+pivot_table_your_data_excel_guru_mug,6030851