Early in my business career I was given the opportunity to lead others. While working as a teller at a small credit union, I was promoted to the job of teller supervisor. Yahoo, a raise in pay was in the works! And along with it some new work activities which was fine by me, I like challenges.
As I shifted gears and took responsibility for learning new tasks, I rather expected that my friends would be right alongside me just as they always had. But the energy in the office was different. What, exactly, had changed so much anyway? To cut to the chase, two things had changed. My position and me.
I started to notice things from my changed view of supervising and wanted to make changes ... all in the name of improving things, of course. But the manner in which I stepped out to initiate improvement was less than, shall we say, motivating to the very people I liked to relax with at the end of the week.
I don't think any of my staff would have categorized me as a tryant, I'm not brassy and confrontation is not something I seek. But all the same, the dynamics of our relationship had changed and I needed to recognize that. So the real challenge before me was not learning the new work activities, but creating a new relationship that could work for all of us. As the supervisor, I needed to lead that effort.
I stayed on at this credit union for six years and gained a tremendous amount of valuable experience. Each step growing my confidence and broadening my view of what it meant to work in cooperation, not in competition, with my coworkers. This period of time in my career is where the idea of mentoring started to take hold. Mentoring across your peer network, mentoring direct reports, and, in some cases, mentoring up to the boss.
Do you have a work experience that, early on, helped shape who you are today? Share your experience. When you share the learning, we all benefit!
No comments:
Post a Comment