Friday was an interesting day...

I got treated to lunch by a former supervisor. I’m enough of a glommer to enjoy a free lunch - it doesn’t happen often so, it’s always a nice treat. Had I known lunch wasn’t on me, I probably would have been more extravagant in my tastes but, it’s the way these things go.

It was an opportunity to catch up, hear about the goings-on in a place after you’ve left it - always a double-edged sword, it can be both a good experience or bad one (bittersweet).

Anyway, it was a nice lunch. There’s a lot going on - good news particularly with the economy the way its been going. I had half expected an offer (of work) to be tabled and was surprised when one didn’t materialize (more on that later).

I didn’t belabor the point (of work) or even bring it up for that matter. The extension of an offer was something which a part of me had been dreading in any event. The truth is, I worked really, really hard while I was at this place. So hard, I wound up in the hospital and I never got the sense any of that work was appreciated.

When I first started, I hoped to stick and maybe build a place for myself within the organization. I really wanted to build a department which ran well, where it was fun to work and which did good work. In my naïveté, I failed to realize how tall an order that is.

It’s hard to manage people. It occurred to me after this experience, none of the people I had worked for over the last few years had been trained to be managers. None of those people had business degrees or were business majors (not that you have to be a business major to lead people). Leading people isn’t an easy thing to do and I learned this the hard way (by making mistakes). In some instances, I think the ideas I had going in worked and in others they failed miserably. If I came away with one thing, it was the lesson you can’t paint with a broad brush - each person is an individual and though you would like to treat everyone in the same manner, you just can’t because of the personalities involved (and I’m not giving myself any pass here folks, because I have just as much personality as anyone else). Add to the mix, I didn’t get the support of the person directly above me.

There are different styles of management and one kind is to pit people against each other - I knew about that inherent character trait of the person bringing me in so, I shouldn’t be surprised (but then, don’t we always think things will be different for us). I had witnessed it happening to other people in the past and this time it happened to me. Like I said, no surprise.

I still look back and feel the experience was a success, considering the parameters of the assignment and also the fact there was really bad client management. I built up a level of trust with the client and it worked to my advantage when I had to deal with them directly but, in many instances there was a belief that client management meant yessing the client to death.

I was really, really proud (pleased?) of the work done by some of the people I bought in (H and S). I don’t think their work was acknowledged either but, that’s the business we’re in. I made sure they knew when I thought they did a good job, I think we made a good team. I hope they liked working with me and that I’ll get a chance to work with them again at some point down the road.

Anyway, so I think a mutual friend actually got an offer and wound up taking it.

And, it’s one of those good news, bad news things:

Nobody likes to be left standing alongside the wall at the dance (even if you’re not really interested in dancing) and petty as it sounds you still find yourself fighting the pangs of jealousy

Then again, having lived the experience, you know it’s a tough dance.

I hope the other person will be a more graceful dancer (and since it’s a friend, that’s an earnest hope) but, I’ve danced with that partner and had my toes stepped on, it’s hard not to see the same thing happening again.