The Winds of Change

I am coming to the conclusion that 2012 is already shaping up to be a year of changes and transformation for me, some planned, some unplanned, some intentional, some unintentional, some under my influence and some beyond the edges of my influence. For my part I am just going to try and embody this spirit:

Be in stillness like a mirror,
and in motion like the sea.

It's probably not going to be easy, but it is going to be a growing experience.  (Growing experience may be code for "hold still, this is going to hurt".)  Those changes were embodied in my day today.

I slept fairly well last night.  If I dreamed, I don't know what I dreamed.  I woke around 5:00 AM and ran through my usual morning routine. Unfortunately, I discovered I was out of coffee!  Once the initial shock and trauma wore off, I substituted a cup of tea and was more or less content. I exchanged text with T.R. and attempted to sneak a quick call in but missed the connection, so I left a voice-mail.  From there I saddled up and went into the office.

Today was a momentous day at work. Yesterday afternoon I had a meeting with my boss regarding the organizational changes that are going to be formally announced Monday morning in a directorate wide staff meeting. As part of the organization the remnant of my department, my three analysts, are going to be transferred under another manager. 

The intention is to split the department along traditional lines - one portion is going to be focused on projects, new systems development, and change management. The other portion will be responsible for operations and maintenance and the user support activities. This is the traditional split of many IT groups.  We were, for a long time, the exception, in that we were a full cycle organization - from idea to inception to implementation to full production support.  Technically and operationally it was a good work experience, but like all things, it comes to an end.

My analysts are going with the operational portion of the directorate, and I will be going with the project portion of the directorate, as a Staff Analyst.  I'm ambivalent but curious about the outcome of the change. I am well aware that part of me is in simple change resistance. It is quite possible that, six months from now, I will look on the split and change as having been a very good thing. 

One of the most difficult aspects of my soon to be former position was that split - project work requires the ability to concentrate for long periods of time on a specific task or set of tasks, operational support requires a great deal of agility and the ability to move from one task to another quickly, in short fast cycles.  So, in some ways, I have been moved to right when I want to be, work-wise.  But, at the same time, that isn't going to stop me from being change resistance.

So, today I went into the office and spent the first two hours talking with my team and discussing the changes. We simply sat in the conference room with the door closed and I told them what I knew and what I thought. It was a good discussion and I think that, though there may be some rough spots ahead, I suspect the transition will go smoothly enough.  I have good people and they are professionals and will rapidly adapt to the new circumstances.

There is definitely a feeling of loss though. We've been together as a department, with me as the manager, for about seven years I think.  That is a long time in dog years.  I've had a stable, highly functional department for most of that period of time. It hurts to let it go.  So, I spent most of the day in meetings and when I wasn't in the meetings, I did the best I could to move smoothly through the day and start down the path of getting ready for the transition.  The next couple of weeks will be all about transition.

So, layer on top of the changes in my professional life the changes in my personal life and it's going to be a year of changes. It will be interesting to see where I am sitting at the end of the year, once I've been through the cycle. I honestly don't know, but I am looking forward to it.  Part of the change resistance within me comes from the challenges of transformation on a personal level.  It is going to be an interesting journey. I am going to look forward to see where the winds of change take me.