Good news at work

I got good news at work this week. It came to me in such a way that I thought it was going to be bad news, or that maybe I was in trouble, but turns out the uber boss was just really excited to tell me the good news: My position and I are doing a little shuffle, moving to a different manager and changing my duties a little bit.

I arrived at the office on Tuesday morning, about five minutes before my official start time (as per usual). I bicycle to work, so I need to change my clothes as part of my morning routine. But I don't usually "get dressed" until after I've been in the office for about 15 minutes -- partly because the janitorial staff just happens to clean the bathrooms on my floor at exactly the same time I arrive for the day, and partly because it just takes that long to get the computer started, check emails, put my things away, etc.

So I arrived five minutes early and was in the process of doing my usual unpacking/starting computer/saying good mornings, when one of the managers came over....

"I know you don't know this, but you have a meeting with the uber boss right now."

I looked down at my cycling clothes. I had taken off the bulky outer rain-proof layer, which leaves me in skin-tight thermals from chin to wrist to ankles. It's not exactly the kind of thing one wears to a meeting with the uber boss. Nevermind the tousled (not attractively) hair and lack of face paint, or the twinge of sweat smell...

"Uhm, can I go change first?"

"Well... it's just going to be a really quick meeting?"

He said this very apologetically. I could tell he wanted to just say yes, I could go change. But instead he said, "We'll be in his office. See you in a minute."

I sighed, collected a notepad, fished out my glasses, and walked across our floor to his corner office. The uber boss made some joke about me being in trouble, then teased me that I don't keep a close enough eye on my meeting schedule, and basically put me on edge. As if I wasn't already outrageously uncomfortable.

But then he dropped the good news. The Big Change. I couldn't believe my ears, it was like I had won the lottery. Almost. I even get to move cubicles.

So now you're probably wondering, gosh, does Brooke hate her current boss that much? Are her cube neighbors that bad? The answers are no and no. You might know that my current boss and I got off to a bit of a rocky start two years ago, when I was promoted into my current position. But we smoothed that all out pretty quickly and it's been a great working relationship since then.

Really, the reason I'm so excited is that I'm going somewhere that makes me feel like I belong. I feel like I'm going home. In my current place (under my current boss), I am the odd man... er, woman... out. My immediate boss manages seven other people, all of whom are men, their average age is probably about 45, and they all work on various aspects of building and maintaining our website. They are great people, but me and what I do at work -- totally different from them. I do research and analyze data. I think at one point, back when my position was originally created, the person in my job actually did some computer programming and published data to the website. But me? I just make a list of changes and give it to one of the programmers.

Two years ago, before I was promoted into my current position, I did a wide variety of research and analysis. I worked with a team of people. It was a very collaborative, give-and-take environment. I really liked my boss, my (physical) location in the office, and what I was doing. And now I am RETURNING to that group. I get to be back with my old team, working under my old boss, and doing a slightly broader set of things compared with what I work on right now. In fact, one of the duties I don't like to do right now, I get to do less of it! The uber boss asked me to scale back on the thing that I don't even like doing so that I could make time to do some new things. How great is that?

But wait, it gets even better (is that possible?). You'll probably recall that I interviewed for a promotion a couple of months ago, and I was one of the top candidates. In my final interview, when the panel (including the uber boss) asked me why I was interested in the promotion, I said several things: I want to work with a team again, because currently I do a lot of stuff on my own; I want to do a greater variety/diversity of things; I want to do some new things; I want to travel a little more; I want to build up my skills and have more chances to learn new things.

A couple of days after I got This Good News, it hit me. Wham. Even though I didn't get that promotion a couple of months ago, the uber boss heard what I was saying in my interview. He heard it, and took it to heart, and he's doing something about it. How cool is that? This change might not come with a higher salary, but it does give me so many of those other benefits that I was seeking. Bonus for my business, the changes will make us more efficient and more productive, too. What a blessing all around.

So really, the best thing to come of this change is being reminded of how much the uber boss cares. He cares about us worker bees, as people, and when we have an idea or a complaint, he is really, truly listening. I'm not saying he's perfect or that we always get what we want, but he's not deaf and he's not blind, and he DOES want us to be happy. How cool is that? It seems so rare that people have a great boss, but I do. It really makes me feel blessed!



(Thanks Graham.)