*Gorbachev asked me this morning as to what my immediate action plan regarding work looked like. I was quiet for a bit... somewhere in between being flummoxed and curious as to how and why this question could have arrived in the first place - it being an economically bad climate to move places when seniority is your safety belt of sorts.
He theorised that our current situation in the department I'm in is like this (He's now in a different department, but still hangs out and works closely with some of us)
There's one key person, and she's kind of holding us in place despite how bored/tired/annoyed/disheartened we are of the situation we are in, and mainly because she is quite the kind of boss that expects you to do your thing well and will support you 100% if help is ever needed. We don't see the results immediately (she's only been in that position for almost a year), but we can see ourselves moving - like glaciers if you may... slow but with impact. She's also the kind of person who gets along with just about everyone. The only problem now is that she is leaving. She found her greener pasture.
So, Gorbachev thinks that with her leaving, a few of us who have been working very closely with her (there are 4 of us - 2 process engineers and 2 supervisors) will follow suit, which although may seem ridiculous at first glance begins to make complete sense when you look at it closely. Of course the effect will not be immediate, but if her replacement doesn't respond to us in the same way, we most probably will be disheartened and move elsewhere. Besides, working with her moved things, and our goals were similar and most important of all we were a team, and we were making a difference despite the many hiccups. And for some reason, he feels that if any of us are moving away as well, he might face some difficulties as well - probably in terms of cooperation (our departments work closely together) and he therefore wants to know what our plans are - he's mainly concerned with **Tivenka (the other PE) and me because he deals with us more than he deals with the supervisors.
Now, I don't know why I brought up this issue... perhaps I'm subconsciously trying to reason out things with myself. Will things change again and we will be lost without a leader just when we're getting back in groove after one year of torture with Mr. Bridge? Or will things remain the same as they were, perhaps we will move with just the four of us? Or will the place where I spend quite a number of my waking hours suck so much more?
Too many questions are left unanswered.
* A Russian name
** Yet another (assumed) Russian name
PS: Thanks to Mike for the Russian names suggestion.
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For a minute I imagined you talking to the real Gorby (who's actually one of those people I'd love to have a chat with).
ReplyDeleteIf I were you I'd be keeping my options open: stay if it works out and move on if it doesn't.
Hilarious! Believe it or not, as I was reading I had decided I'd comment with something like Wait a minute, this 'Gorbacev' is a code name, isn't it... - and sure enough it was! And sure enough, I have no idea who you're talking about! Thanks for the chuckle this morning :-) Hope everything works out for you at work...
ReplyDeleteSigned,
Mhike
ps Thank you for the shout-out as well.
Oh Terra, I really hope it works out. It sounds like with a little bit more of the present status quo, your team could build up momentum and really achieve something. I have no idea what it is you do and probably wouldn't understand if you tried to explain to me but I think work projects are all the same in that how much you achieve depends so much on the personalities in the team. Well, best of luck with it...
ReplyDeleteAunty: That was the first Russian name that came to mind. I do agree with the idea of keeping my options open... thanks :)
ReplyDeleteMike: You're welcome... and thanks for the idea! Despite the situation, I did let out a chuckle or two at the thoughts of Gorbachev :)
Hoozle: Thank you... It's apparent that the team works much better than us tackling issues on our own. We don't know how it's going to be...
Dealing with change is always a challenge. I would say to keep your options open. And certainly make an effort to give the new person a chance.
ReplyDeleteIs this bad news? You still sound funny...
ReplyDeleteTravis: True... change is inevitable. But the new person will be given a chance... no doubt. :)
ReplyDeleteRakesh: I don't know yet, but it could be. Keeping things light hearted (or funny as you put it) is my way of handling the issue, that's all :)