Thought for the Day

I heard a quote this weekend I really like and will need to now consider in my every day life.

"Change how you see things, and the things you see change."

As many of you may know I'm not super happy at work. I loved this company when I started working here. Loved everything about it. The people, the dogs, the work....everything. But the company seems to be going through a change in direction....everyone seems to be leaving for better paying, more challenging, more growth jobs. I, myself, have been searching for that elusive GREAT job too.

While I'm here, I've been told by a few higher ups that I should consider my attitude and negativity at work. That if I am unhappy I should keep it to myself. Which I grossly disagree....the power people here asked us to be honest with them if we felt something was wrong in our career. I've done a pretty good job discussing this with my boss and my bosses boss and with no results.

There's a point to all this, I swear....stick with me.

I passed the PMP exam in August and expected that to launch my career within this company. Sadly, though it has not. I was told emphatically by the director of the PMs...

Actually wait, let me go back. In October of last year (2004) I met with my boss at the time, our director and our HR rep. I laid out a career plan that I felt was a path for me here. They all agreed and congratulated me on my efforts. Exactly two weeks after this great meeting, we re-organized. They created PM group...of which I was not a part. Now keep in mind I told them out right that I wanted to be a PM. So I was, to say the least, sad at this change. But I continued on with my plan. Off to school to get my certification in Project Management. Off to take the very difficult Project Management Professional exam.

Now fast forward from Oct last year to Aug of this year. After I passed my PMP I met with the Director of the PM team. He told me emphatically that I was not qualified to be a PM here. When pushed to find our more, he simply said it was because I didn't have any significant client interaction. Fair enough, except how is someone supposed to get this experience...?

So now, several month after, we've lost 11 people since August. This wouldn’t be bad if we weren’t a company of 40 people. Of those 11, 5 were PMs.

Of course, I'm a bit disgruntled because I know I can do that job, but instead am stuck doing the same job I've done here for 4 years.

Now to the point...there is one I swear.

I'm actively seeking employment elsewhere, and know its a matter of time. But this past week, I met with my boss and our Director to find out they re-wrote my job desc and took out ALL The PM aspects of it. AND then...as if that wasn't bad enough, they discussed my attitude and thought I should be more positive.

Do you know how hard it is to be positive, when everything around you is so negative?

And here's the point....
I've been unhappy for so long here that maybe if I change the way I see things here, perhaps "here" will change. Its worth a try for my remaining time here...because God willing and the creek don't rise it won't be long.

Oh and I forgot one other part. After I passed the PMP exam, a fellow working and manager approached me to ask if I'd be interested in being a PM in the internal dept here. No client interaction required. I, naturally, jumped at the opportunity. SEVERAL weeks later...like last week, this fellow colleague came to me and said, there's no way. Too many hurdles.

So you see, how can I keep positive in a negative environment? Any suggestions?

But I leave you with this, if, in fact, you can change the way things happen by changing how you see them, then maybe, just maybe, I can be seen as a valuable asset here and as someone who has a ton of PM knowledge just waiting to be used.

Got any job openings? Let me know.