In love

Absolutely enjoying myself in the new job, that I am doing covering someone else's maternity.
Love it.
Why?
- because it is about categories and brands that I've known and worked with for years, and grew to love;
- because there is a lot to learn, lots of interesting stuff;
- because the situation is appealing to me: we are suffering a bit, market going down, loosing share and people are not expecting a lot... I am the guy who can come from behind and unexpectedly deliver great stuff (the underdog! I love being in this position);
- because the guy who is my boss has a great depth of knowledge and is taking a very didactic approach, taking opportunities to teach his team;
- because also it is a good situation, not a lot is expected from me (just covering a maternity) so the pressure is relatively low;
- because there is a very visibile lack of knowledge in the rest of the company in this category... I am really a goldmine with the depth and wealth of insights and learning I have from having worked (through different jobs, functions and regionalities) with these categories and brands
- because I have colleagues! It's a team of 5 of us, reporting to 1 guy. We are all around the same age and experiencing the same things! Being in the senior team, I am also quite respected by the younger managers which is something I also appreciate... And also the young managers are cool, intelligent and nice (also to look at!:) )

And... I am loving it so much that I am finding huge ammounts of energy, I am amazingly much more positive and... contaminating everybody around me with this energy! I am also a lot more confortable taking and making decisions and... coming up with a lot more cool ideas.
It's amazing the difference it makes when you actually are enjoying a lot what you are doing. When you are passionate about it.

How would you deal with this?

Still struggling with the new job. I find myself spending the day in meetings! No time to do the proper work that I have on my desk, but most of all no time to start puting my stamp on my team, as I need to.

The people in my team know their objectives. They know what we need to achieve, and what projects they have on their lap.
But they don't seem to move! They don't move and only wait for me to tell them what they need to do!!! I really struggle with this! I strongly think that more and more people need to think with their own head and get things moving. BEING PROACTIVE.
But what they are doing is complaining to each other... on how they are worried that they don't have a lot to do and are afraid that if there are job cuts they will be next... Come on!!! Grow up and do something about it!
I really feel like going to them and saying 'just bloody do something, just bloody move, it's your job, make something of it! Move, you know where you need to get to! So bloddy get on and start thinking how to get there! I'll be there to bounce ideas of, to unblock paths, to influence at higher lever, to secure budgets, to discuss and agree paths...'.
But if I am aggressive, I will just loose them, as they are quite fragile and with limited self confidence.

I am really annoyed but I guess this is the learning curve for managing people.

CURRENT LEARNING: I am being too nice. I need to be tougher on them and start demanding more. I need to hold them acocuntable more. To challenge them more. Set them targets. Set them clear objectives.