I work out of several different offices. 5 in fact. Most of time I work out of my main office downtown. Some days I feel as if I've spent more time on the subway running between offices than I have in the office itself.
Today I am working out of an office uptown. It's a nice office, and I really love the people here. I've gotten to know them really well over the past 8 years that I've been working in this group, and I guess they've come to trust me, which is actually very flattering. These guys are technical people, and generally speaking, getting technical people to open up to anyone can be...Well....Pretty difficult. Techies tend to be individual workers, and often tend to keep to themselves. I guess over time, many of them have gotten to know me pretty well and have been able to open up to me. It's kind of nice.
So today, I had one of my "presence days". Every now and then, I come here just to be here, to be available and to attend one or two meetings, but for the most part, I'm just here in case they want to chat about our projects and initiatives. Today was a day when everyone seems to have needed to chat. It's one of those days where you can see that everyone needs to let an emotional load off, some of it office related, project related, and some people just had personal matters that have been affecting them in one way or another.
Either way, I'm glad I came here. I'm glad I was here to support all my friends and colleagues, and I'm glad that they trust me enough to open up. It's nice to know that they find support from me (although I'm not sure why they aren't able to support eachother). The information is useful, because I get a better understanding of the issues that impact our initiatives and I can steer around them, and make things better for my colleagues at the same time. It's a win-win situation.
It's really interesting how morale can be so different from one office to the next, given we all work for the same company. I mean, it's actually different from one building to the next. Some of our offices are more laid back, some are more formal, some have serious morale issues, and others are doing pretty well. Thankfully, having seen the world around me within the company, I'm glad to say that I work for one of the better areas of the organization, and for a super fantastic group. That being said, it does sadden me to see my colleagues in other offices going through such a tough time morale wise. It affects productivity, project success, and employee loyalty towards the organization. I wish all people managers would just "get it" and do something about it.
Anyhow, today ended up being a bit draining. As much as I love to be here for everyone else, it is draining mentally and emotionally, especially when you're trying to put out fires in the office in between conversations. Sometimes I wonder how much value I really add by coming up here, and other days I think I should be here more often. I do learn a great deal about internal politics and issues just by listening to others, and Lord knows, I owe major time back to others for all the support I have received from people over the years. I guess it's kind of my payback to my colleagues for the support they gave me in my time of need. It's weird. Some days you want to change the world, and other days, you just wish you could have stayed in bed. Today was a bit of both.
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