Like many of us, I tend to dismiss compliments. I tend to assume doing my job is pretty much basic expectations. Friday, I was asked to review a document going to higher levels in my organization.
Having had a bit of the case of the Friday's, I wasn't terribly motivated to work on the document. But, as per my usual approach, I worked pretty efficiently for the last hour and sent it back over the fence with the claim I didn't want to go too far with revisions without checking it was what was desired.
My approach gives the desired appearance of deference and work completed, with the knowledge I won't get feedback until at best Monday. Professionally supported laziness you could say.
This morning I was greeted with the printout of my edits, and the loud compliments of "I love what you did with this paper!"
I was bowled over. Love?
I worked on it intermittently throughout the day, and before Supervisor left for the day I promised a final draft before I left this evening. Again, I was told I'd done a really great job with it so far, had a way with words that were articulate and politically correct, and presented in a much more professional manner than her usual "slopping it on paper".
Inside I cheered with the rather loud compliments (i.e., anyone in the office at that time of day would have overheard) and cringed with the idea that a PhD with my degree and quite a long history with my industry "slopped" things on paper for upper management. It's no wonder we're often not heard and that hiring me (i.e., my degree) was really going out on a limb.* I have some initial hope that perhaps with some well framed (and professionally presented) ideas, we might get to make some significant changes in the coming year.
God I love my job!
*I've been told on several occasions since starting that while my degree probably has a lot to offer, it's not really well understood in my organization, and therefore not terribly valued. It was apparently a novel thought when during my interview I said that trying to sell my degree to management was less important than just getting the recommendations I have to improve the organization approved...and then if they happened to want to know what my degree was...I'd be happy to enlighten them.
No comments:
Post a Comment