Let's Get Brainwashed.

from ending, and 2010 is about to begin. It was a big year for me, switching jobs after almost 9 years at another company. I had to be the new guy all over, and I was not comfortable not having all the answers. At my last job, over the years I learned a lot, so I was the "go to" person for so many things, and while it was frustrating to have to deal with so many problems and have to wear so many hats, I had a lot of confidence. Here, it dropped to nearly zero. I slouched back and let things take their course, and just tried to observe and understand how things work here. I think overall that was a good tactic, because others in my group just showed up and sometimes acted like they were here to clean up a mess, so that got a negative reaction from the rest of the company. But then they showed results, so there's a happy middle ground at the moment.

One of the big disappointments for me was that I was supposed to work on many projects. They wanted me to start up some kind of employee communications - either as an e-mail newsletter, or internal website, or mini magazine. They also wanted me to put together a kind of Company 101 curriculum, so that new people could learn about the company and how things work. Also, an organization chart of the company. All of these made sense to be a part of my job since I was gathering this kind of information anyway.

All of these projects were dropped or absorbed into someone else's project.

I felt like I was part of something new at first, and then one by one these projects were dropped so that I only had one thing to work on: my main job. Not having extra things to do made my work boring. In addition, I was not driving my own work. I was totally dependent on others asking for me to step in at the end of their projects and do my part. So it was frustrating to not know what was coming up, and having to react to situations instead of driving my own. (In brainwash speak, it means that I was more tactical instead of strategic, or more ground level instead of mapping a road.)

I have expressed this frustration several times, of course in veiled corporate speak, and I think I am finally getting them to listen. My first couple of requests to have something more, something that I am directing, were ignored. But recently, in the last 6 weeks, things have worked out. I have been given some projects where I was able to demonstrate my abilities, and they noticed. I am hoping this will change in 2010 even more.