Lessons Learned:
1. Check calendar if someone overbooked you and give a heads up so they can adjust the schedule if you’re really needed in the meeting.
2. Prepare, prepare, prepare!
3. Minimize multitasking especially during important meetings.
4. Reach out to other team members who can help you prep for client sessions.
5. Be a little patient with yourself.
6. Take time for self-care.
2 months ago (Nov 2020), I volunteered to move to Design team to learn something new. I’ve been with this project for 7 years, working on batches and interfaces. I was promoted from Team Lead to Associate Manager after almost 3 years. Then I moved to Maintenance and Operations. It’s been fun but also stressful when I couldn’t sleep at night because I am on call.
I thought, instead of leaving the company or leaving the project, I can move to a different team to try something new. Design’s senior manager took an LOA so I wanted to help out the lead who’s also a momma of 2 toddler boys. I could just imagine te struggle of working from home with 2 toddler boys. Although she sends them to day care most of the time but they have been getting sick a lot.
So I moved to Design team in December 2020. It was nice, learning new stuff but then the lady announced that she was leaving the company. Gasp! That leaves me as the most senior in the team. I literally panicked. I did not want to be the lead. I only wanted to support her. Plus, I got promoted to Manager, which was highly unexpected because I knew there were only a few spots during the pandemic. I realized it must be because the company is promoting gender equality so they are putting slots for women to be promoted.
So, my entire Christmas vacation and holidays, I spent on preparing and thinking about how to be an effective manager. During that time, I stumbled upon videos of Julie Sweet, our CEO.
I learned a lot from her, about working hard, dreaming big, and preparing yourself.
I think I did well on my first week. I managed to get things done and be on top of the team’s activities and status reports.
I do have a big hill to climb, as what my client counterpart said, but I’m going to prepare my mind, body, and soul for that climb!
My Lane 