Farewell part I

This Thursday and Friday did the final handover meetings in my previous job. It was... much better than what I had antecipated.
The first day I handed over to this new guy who is hugely arrogant. He got the job because... his wife is the daughter of a big shot. These things happen, even in large blue chips! I struggle with it, really, specially because this particular guy doesn't show anything apart from the capacity to rub people the wrong way.
Well, we got along and I did a professional handover, as I'm used to, preparing all the files and fully taking him through everything, finishing with my personal learnings and advice on next steps and how to progress. My boss was gonna join for an intro, he came on the run as I was 10 minutes into handing over and... I realised he was surprised that I was actually doing it this way. I guess in his experience most people just wanna move along and really do not care about the previous job. He left to leave us to it and only returned when I was finished.

Then he organised a farewell dinner for me. The turnout was low as most people were travelling (as usual) but he really made an effort, and it turned out to be a cool dinner! We had fun. I valued this as most of them spend most of their time travelling and away from home, so making the effort to come out when they are on their home town close to their wifes and kids... is valuable.

Part II to come soon.

Progress report

Things are progressing in my new job.
Had individual meetings with each of the team members and also had the 1st team meeting where I took the lead.
Today we held the 1st business review, with invitees from other departments. It went really well, it's great to have a good start, as everyone was really upbeat afterwards. It builded confidence and momentum.

I'm getting the 1st challenges of being a line manager. One of my direct reports was supposed to prepare some charts for the business review. As we met the day before the review, the work done was appaling. Even though the report has an agreed early finishing time and has kids to take care of, I had to hold the person accountable. She had to work late and take stuff home. It made me quite unconfortable, I hated doing it, but I guess you have to make points early on. Specially because she had loads of time to prepare the info.
It's uncomfortable but I am learning!!! This is why I wanted to get people management experience. To learn, and to become a better manager!

Confidence

Got away with it...! Managed the board meeting blagging my way through...
What I've really realized in the last years in my career is that if you are confident in your abilities and show it, you can get anything through.

Put things in perspective

Have a board meeting today. I should have prepared something for it which I did not do... because the deadline given to me was mental and simply because I really don't fancy the work.
I could have worked yesterday until late night, but really did not feel like it. It is a change: I am more important than work. So I chose to go to bed and get some sleep!
I went to the doctor who said I was tired and needed a break... so I tried to get it.

Let's see how I will cope with the board.
I'll probably be honest and say I simply did not have time to do this.
And get a bollocking.
But there is more to life and I don't need this hassle. Put things in perspective.
AS I have just heard yesterday... a high school friend of mine commited suicide a few days ago... that really puts things in perspective!

A couple of other good friends are going in opposite directions: one is getting married, another one is getting a divorce. Funny that so early on my friends are already getting divorced.

Corporate Athlete

Read a bit of a book about managing your energy. It mentions that we should balance moments of spending energy with moments of recharging.
In a study of top performers in tennis, one of the findings was how the top players behaved in between points. In these 15 second breaks, there was a finding that the really successful players have rituals of behaviour - they seem to use these breaks to relax and recharge.
A famous golf player also said, that his focus increasingly sharpens reaching total focus as he swings. After the stroke, he fully relaxes, lets his mind wander and chats to other players or the caddie as he walks to the next hole. As he approaches it, his focus starts building up again...

By building these little breaks, they manage to extend the periods of high performance. Without these breaks, our mind woul get fuzzier as times progresses and we would get much more tired, much earlier.

And there are 2 key things that influence our energy levels: food and also our breathing.
Personally, I will build short breaks for relaxed deep breathing. A few minutes every 2 hours or so.

Anxiety and work

Quite anxious last night, had trouble to fall asleep. Why? Don't know.
Maybe because things are falling into place in the new role, and I will start to be under pressure pretty soon.
Maybe because of my girlfriend situation, we are living in different countries and it is difficult to manage such a relationship.
Maybe because I am not a 100% sure on what I want to do professionally.

Today, I was approached again by a large multinational who made me a job offer a few months ago. They proposed to me something else, a very high responsibility role... (!)
I am happy and excited about the current job. Thing is money is really low (in this proposition of today I would be making more than double the money), but above all I think I will miss the international exposure. And... will I really be stretched in my new role.

What I really want professionally is:
- to enjoy my daily work, do something that gives me pleasure and is meaningful
- to continuously grow, daily improving and becoming a better worker and manager

VISION

Had a few more days on the new job.
I'm enjoying it, I think there is a lot I can do, I can really get things going and make a difference. In the new job, I believe I can shape the face of the country where I live! That is pretty powerful!
Being upbeat and positive has a huge impact on the people working for/with me. I think they are enjoying it. My only concern is that I am being too nice and positive... might make things difficult when I will need to put my foot down. But let's see. I am aware of this which is good.
And I need to remain aware, as I am getting the clear feeling that some of the people working here do need th sharpen up, to get more responsible and proactive, to start feeling ownership of things! I will bring this on to the team.
I think a good way to do it is for us to create and share a vision of what we want to go. That is really powerful.

Update!

Sunday.
I have started picking up new projects slowly in the new role, at the same time as I handover the current one to a colleage.
It was amazing the 1st day of my handover: it made me realize only then how much I had done! How much work I had gone through and how much I progressed the projects I worked on.
Nevertheless, even though I think I will really miss the travelling aspect of it as well as the contact with international people, I feel ok about dropping the current projects. They are flying, doing really well and are high profile, but I am ok.

The new job seems cool and the team should be nice to manage. And I think I can really add value to the business.

Tomorrow... I have a job interview though!
It came a few weeks ago. I wouldn't even consider it if it wasn't in an area that as always appealed to me: management consulting. I was approached by an head hunter. My take is to see how such an interview goes, what is it like and... will I really be tempted by it.

It is also an opportunity to go back to the country where I lived for 4 years, 1 year ago. Don't know how much of that does play a part.

Let' find out. The only way is to go out and do it!