Transitions

Transitions

9/9/2012

In January of this year I accepted a position with a company in Dallas. My purpose was to move closer to my first grandchild and my children. I had not realized until I moved here how much I missed them! It is the best move of my life! I am getting to know my two beautiful daughters-in-law, am spending time with my sons that is "real" not just "visiting" and am a known quantity in my granddaughters life. Did I say, this is awesome? The cool thing is I was invited to move here by my family!

Do I miss what I did in Austin and my friends there? Well, yes but I barely have time to think of it. I am very aware of how much happier I am with family close by!

I accepted a job in the corporate world. I had worked for a couple of corporations in the 70's but I was an administrative assistant. I was hired this time as a manager which is way different. To complicate things, I was hired for a position that no one really understood. Although I talked to the other eight people with the same job title, they were scattered across the nation, and none of us were doing exactly the same thing. Although we had the same title, since we worked in different states in an industry regulated by states, we did not exactly speak the same language. There was a lot to learn as I transitioned from running a small nonprofit (annual $600K budget) to working in a multi-billion dollar a year corporation where I was far from being a boss. Some things translate but you have to learn a very complex new vocabulary or should I say language!

I guess it was kind of like being parachuted into a country where you know no one and they think you are some strange new species for which they have no known use. When you try to speak their language it comes out garbled and they look at you as though you have a second head growing from your shoulders. Its hard to speak in acronyms! You have to carry around your dictionary and spend all your time deciphering what they are talking about! On top of that you are trying to translate and implement a document that no one quite understands (a contract funding your business) written by a variety of people most of whom are unknown to you. And finally, there is a brand new piece to that contract/business that is very slightly understood. People seek translation from others but everyone has their own interpretation and opinion of it all. Sound confusing? Boy was it.

For the first six months, my head was spinning and I was not sure what use I could possibly be. The second six months has the fog clearing and me feeling a bit more useful.