New jobs are always an interesting experiencing, particularly when you've had several "new job experiences" under your belt. I am now moving out of the introductory phase of my newness to the I'm now ready to get some work out there. It's in this phase that I'm realizing one encounters the "real organization" that one is working for. During the introductory phase, you experience the "marketed organization" which I define as essentially the organization that is presented in the glossy brochures, the slick commercials, the information passed on to you by the recruitier and shared by all of the folks you interviewed with. Every now and then, some one may slip a little reality in there, but for the most part, they are still selling you the organization as they would like people to see it.
Then comes the opportunity to put your first bit of work out there and you begin to see not only the real organization but how well aligned you actually are with the actual culture. Now to be fair, sometimes the "marketed" and "real" may be very close to one another. Other times, they may be so far apart that you have an encounter that makes you want to run outside the building to double check the building signage, confirming that you did indeed enter the organization that you thought you did.
My experience today wasn't quite that drastic, but it was a little jarring. It basically involved my trying to get a discussion going on how our department should approach a given project and there seemed to be varied degrees of understanding related to what I was saying. From the "oh, of course," to the "whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?" I think what was surprising is that the former reaction came from the most "junior" member of the group and the latter from one of the most "senior" who has responsibility for a key element of our operations. So it was a "if you're not getting this conceptually then we may have some more serious issues to deal with before we even begin talking about how we're actually going to do the work."
I've been here before in other jobs and I would say the one thing I've got going for me is that my boss emphatically gets it and will be doing her part to ensure that the others get it or get out of the way. Still, it always makes for a fun day when you have these kind of occurrences. I'm sure there will be more to come and definitely more to share.
Then comes the opportunity to put your first bit of work out there and you begin to see not only the real organization but how well aligned you actually are with the actual culture. Now to be fair, sometimes the "marketed" and "real" may be very close to one another. Other times, they may be so far apart that you have an encounter that makes you want to run outside the building to double check the building signage, confirming that you did indeed enter the organization that you thought you did.
My experience today wasn't quite that drastic, but it was a little jarring. It basically involved my trying to get a discussion going on how our department should approach a given project and there seemed to be varied degrees of understanding related to what I was saying. From the "oh, of course," to the "whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?" I think what was surprising is that the former reaction came from the most "junior" member of the group and the latter from one of the most "senior" who has responsibility for a key element of our operations. So it was a "if you're not getting this conceptually then we may have some more serious issues to deal with before we even begin talking about how we're actually going to do the work."
I've been here before in other jobs and I would say the one thing I've got going for me is that my boss emphatically gets it and will be doing her part to ensure that the others get it or get out of the way. Still, it always makes for a fun day when you have these kind of occurrences. I'm sure there will be more to come and definitely more to share.
