Opportunity

Do you ever have that moment of clarity in your life when you recognize you're on the cusp of an opportunity, and you desperately don't want to mess it up?  Well, that's me.  As my company continues to grow I'm faced with the opportunity to be promoted to my team's manager.  My team has already experienced change recently as we've realigned again to another division of the company, and with it has come a new boss.  Change looms again, as it always does, but this time it's personal.  

It isn't just the promotion that I don't want to mess up (and subsequently lose before it has even officially been made mine), it's the actions that I know are expected of me and are under close review from my new chain of command.  For example, I have an employee who has been with us for 60 days, and is performing poorly.  It is expected that I council this employee, and if in 30 days they do not show dramatic improvement, it is expected that I let this person go.  How I handle this will set in my senior team's mind the expectation that I can either perform the functions of a manager or I cannot.  That is on one hand.  On the other hand this employee is a person, a human being, and one I wish to be compassionate towards and offer every opportunity for improvement.  I must please the master and the beast, if you will.

For all intents and purposes, I already perform the job.  In fact, the tempo of my current daily work life is at a higher pace than what it will be after we hire 1 - 2 more head count, and I settle into actually managing the team.  I am exhausted.  I keep trying to remind myself that this is temporary, and as with most things it gets harder before it gets easier.  

My hope for myself is to remain humble and compassionate in an otherwise cold, corporate world.  I have been shown great professional compassion in my career, and if I'm wise I will emulate that in my new role.  Yes, I know I am not about to become the leader of the free world, but that doesn't matter.  My role, and how I perform in it, affects not only myself but the members of my team.  I care about how each individual feels at the end of the day - so for that fact alone I strive to be an excellent leader. 

Well, it's late, and another long work day shortly awaits me.