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Exciting and scary: some progress

Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Edit: If you want to see the end of the story, here’s the conclusion.

So a couple of months ago an exciting but scary opportunity presented itself to me at work. I’d been trundling along with the same general activities for quite a while, there are challenges and long term projects running all the time and I thought I was pretty contented.

Then I got picked to spend 9 months of this year being mentored by someone from the executive team. It was an accident, so I didn’t have a plan for what I wanted to achieve with my mentor. We had an initial chat for 15 minutes to put faces to our names and then our first proper meeting.

We shared our potted life histories – my mentor and I have very different backgrounds, but also very similar outlooks and approaches to life in general. We talked about our careers and our families, got to know each other a bit. I was completely honest about my accidental position as a mentee and he isn’t bothered. We talked about the parts of my work life that I find challenging: the arsehole, getting stuff done, a general desire for promotion and progress, and about what could make the job of everyone in my role easier.

By our second meeting a month later, I was starting to form an idea of a project. It’s a big deal. I want to invent a new job role in our company, to bridge the gap between the technical writing teams and the operational R&D team. Then, if we can persuade the powers that be that this role would be beneficial to lots of functions and would add value for our customers, then I want to do that job.

I’ll say it again, it’s a big deal. I’ve worked in the same job, effectively, for over 14 years. I started as an associate technical writer and now I’m still a technical writer, the level below a director. I still spend a not-insignificant part of my working week writing or preparing to write user guides, working with dev teams and PMs and QA. For the last 4 or 5 years I’ve also taken on more leadership activities, though absolutely not management. The thought of leaving this very comfortable, familiar position for a new team with some lofty goals set out for me to achieve is, frankly, scary as f*ck.

I think it could make a massive difference, the processes for the technical writers could be much smoother and the requests for enhancements could be dealt with and acted upon more quickly. I feel like its a promising opportunity to make things better for the writers and for the customers as a consequence – better processes will leave the writers with more time to, well, writers. Added to all that, I think I can do it and do it well. I’m professional, effective, I learn quickly and I’m pretty technical without being a developer, I communicate well and I listen carefully, I know the life of a technical writer so I know what we need.

The remaining question is how to make it happen.

I have no idea. I’m pretty lowly really, there are about four people between me and my R&D leadership which runs parallel to the Operations leadership. I have connections the level or two above me, but not above that. I don’t know how to get onto the radar of the people who make the decisions.

So I’ve started by talking to people at that director level above me. I’ve asked a couple of people to talk to their managers, start planting the seeds. One of those people is a long-standing colleague who offered to help anyway he can, he’s someone I sincerely admire and his good opinion of me is highly valued. He thinks I’d be great in the role, he told me why he thinks I’ll be good at it. My head almost exploded, not with self-confidence but surprise as this isn’t someone who praises easily.

My mentor has also set me off writing a status/target/proposal presentation and a sales-type story about why we need a role like the one I have in mind.

Then the next steps? Well I’ll meet with my mentor in a couple of weeks and see what he suggests. I’ll try to write some more about how it goes when I have news.

Love from Smell xxx

Published by Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Rants, rambles, loss, gin, guests, recipes, funny kids, occasional poems, and a bit of running.

27 thoughts on “Exciting and scary: some progress”

  1. Pingback: Exciting and scary: the end – Smelly Socks and Garden Peas
  2. Pingback: Exciting and scary: more progress – Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

  5. This is really exciting! I really hope they recognize your contributions and your potential to do more for the organization. Fingers and toes crossed that they promote you. Looking forward to the next update.

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  7. Exciting times indeed, Ms Accidental Mentee! Scary as fuck but well worth it and after so long in that role, you deserve to push forward and take the chance. We’ll all be behind you cheering you on!!!

    Caz xx

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  11. Hi SS&GP,

    This sounds like a fantastic opportunity.

    My experience with bosses (directors, partners, executives, whatever they call themselves in the business in question), starting from my first job as a junior and gradually moving up to my current role as a senior manager, with any proposal it invariably comes down to ‘What’s in it for me?’.

    That’s not to say that they don’t care about their employees or customers – most do. Its just that it isn’t their main driver. Its the same as it is for most of us – we go to work for the salary rather than just for the fun of it.

    So, whatever pitch you make (and it will certainly help to have the support of your mentor and others immediately above you), if it were me I would highlight what benefits it will bring to them. Will freeing up the writers lead to better work or greater volumes of work? Will the added value for customers result in increased income? Or increased customer loyalty?

    Good luck! 🙂

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  14. This sounds like a very exciting opportunity! For how scary it may be to get out of familiarity, you already made a huge step in trying and also talking to other people above. It’s great you have colleagues on your side, all the best of luck and can’t wait for an update x

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  16. Having senior folks in your corner lobbying for your success and wanting to hear more on the value-add position you’re proposing is HUGE. Have fun with it as you’re mapping out & sharing your ideas. Best of luck to you!

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  18. Sounds like you have an amazing opportunity smell, from what others opinions within the hierarchy say you will smash it. I wish you the best of look 🙌🏻 go for it, you can do it.

    Liked by 3 people

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