I don’t want to lead I just want to work.

Years of working in a corporate office environment has led me to categorize positions in the following manner.  There are people with ideas, people that lead, people that manage people, people that manage work, and people that work.  Due to budget constraints and other factors some positions fall into 2 categories.  Some positions think they should be all categories which I argue is not good use of their time but to each their own. 

As these are my categories, they follow these rules: 1 position to 2 categories is not a requirement and not expected; the opportunity should only be provided if asked for.  1 position should not have more than 2 categories.  Every category impacts all categories.  High risk for having the wrong position in the wrong category.  In a team you can have more than one position within the same category if and only if you have all categories covered.

When I first started my 8-5 job, my goal was to have a Monday to Friday (M-F) schedule.  I didn’t want to work nights and I didn’t want to continue driving from part time job to part time job.  I started looking into office positions.  I received rejections, interviewed, and finally after what seemed ages, I got my first offer.  

Every day I showed up to work grateful for the opportunity.  I showed up prepared and I showed up eager to learn anything and everything.  I was willing to do anything.  I had what I needed; my weekends.  I didn’t care that I cleaned break rooms, placed mugs in the dishwasher, and had administrative work.  It was better than serving and closing a restaurant doing some roll-ups.

After days, months, and years of having the same schedule and forgetting the struggle, attitude changed.  Today I walk into work counting the days till Friday comes.  I’m grumpy before my first cup of coffee.  It hasn’t always been this way but recently I don’t feel energized, and I don’t feel empowered.  My team is going through some transitions not only with staff but also with process.  These transitions don’t seem to have a positive impact on the product we need to deliver.

Transitions are hard and require a lot of attention.  Transition of staff requires everyone committing to a category and knowing other categories.  The who is doing what when roles have been added/been removed.  Transition of process requires everyone understanding the process change and how it impacts their category.  This is how the work will be completed.  These transitions require a lot of calibration to ensure the team is ready to take on the next project and there is the need to establish a sense of security for all categories.  No category is left behind and no category should feel threatened by another category.