Lessons Learned

Last week we had a lessons learned meeting for the end of the substance abuse audit. I was left completely in love with the people I work with and my organization.

The last meeting in which I was encouraged to be candid about what did or didn't work was at Ye Olde Fortune 500 Bank, when they promoted a member of the work group to be our manager and Human Resources had a 4 hour meeting with us to make sure we were all okay with the change, It was during the confidential part of the meeting that we (those who hadn't been promoted) relayed that sure, we were fine with the change as our current manager was batshit crazy, an egomaniac, a micromanager, untrustworthy, and manipulative. Our new manager was also untrustworthy and a bully, but more professional about it, and we generally thought that whatever input either solicited was never regarded. I wish I had called HR the time Manager 2 used the word "nigger" to describe someone. Someone else did call HR on her for other behavior. She still got promoted though. And I don't think HR ever realized that if in a work group over 3 years and 7 hires, if 4 of those hires have been put on action plans for performance at various times, you've got problems with either your manager, the expectations of the hires, skill levels matching the position or some expensive craziness going on.

Yeah, glad to be out of that.

Back to the report--we all agreed that the end result was really good and solid in its research, analysis and presentation, even if due to personnel changes there was a lot of havoc and stress to get it as such. And we are happy that it seems to be a report that will make a difference. The managers owned up to actual mistakes they made in managing and reviewing things that made it all harder later in the process. Seriously. We talked about processes that worked and where we hit snags. Some of our experiences are being incorporated into other work being done--we really broke a collaborative wall in some ways. Usually when you say you are "collaborative" in a working environment, you're not really being collaborative--you are doing the bit assigned to you and putting it together later. We really strive to refine out thinking as a group and now we are splitting the work up in such a way to truly put that into practice.

I got good comments; that I was the perfect person to handle the case studies because I can get people to open up, that the librarians are good to work with because we appreciate ambiguity but aren't intimidated by it. Pinch is a miracle worker.

I love my job. I'm constantly challenged, and I do think I am appreciated as an individual and not just as a cog in a machine. I am amazingly lucky.