New Challenges

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. ~Bernice Johnson Reagon


In the next few weeks, I will be taking on a new project. It is not one of the 'glamorous' international projects most employees at my company aspire to. No. In fact, I will be moved off of the glamorous international project where I have high visibility, have a respected name, have the opportunity to work with people of many nationalities on three different continents across 11.5 time zones. I am being reassigned as a Project Manager to a legacy project. A project that makes lots of money but one that is based on older technology making it less attractive to Engineers seeking to grow skills and remain competitive in the marketplace.

The project I will be leading is a project with teams that have not seen success for two product development revisions spanning almost three years. It's a project populated with good people but they are people struggling mentally, struggling emotionally, and struggling physically because they were on a 60 hour per week death march for a few months in an attempt to meet a very challenging schedule.

From what I have seen from the outside, the culture of the team is leaning toward the toxic. The five teams (3 in India and 2 in the US) are not particularly healthy. Too often, I hear of finger pointing. To often I hear the exclusive terms us and them instead of the inclusive we. This is a project team that does not see itself as a team thus has become work groups and are missing out on the joy of people bonded toward a common goal, a common vision, are missing out on the glory of achievement.

This struggling project with struggling people is the situation I am inheriting. Many people would be unhappy to inherit a struggling legacy team instead of riding the waves of glory associated with the glamorous international team. Truth be told, I am very excited about leading this team. I am excited because I am a leader and I love the challenge of helping people see the best in themselves, love the challenge of helping people achieve more than they thought was possible. Truth be told, the glamorous international project had become routine for me, had ceased to fully utilize the leadership talents I believe lurk in me, talents that need to be stretched to new limits if I am to continue grow my leadership skills. A leader must grow, must learn to continue being an effective leader.

In the next few weeks, I will be the Project Manager for this team and I couldn't be more excited because, as a leader, I thrive on new challenges.