15yrs gone by (Office life) – Part 2

Did I leave from the comfort because of manager?

If I decide to leave I cannot blame my manager(s). They either enable or let me take the course. After deciding to leave to bargain is dangerous.

There is lot of study and statistics that “people leave managers”. This could be true in many cases, definitely not in my case. Am thankful to all my managers over the years who have stood by me when I made a mistake, appreciated me when I did a good job, sat together to share feedback.

In my opinion managers are enablers they are not God. If we are not sure what we want to do, I don’t think we can blame the managers. There are organisation goals which are also to be kept track of when pull out red, yellow or green card for you. A constructive discussion is always important and works beneficial for all.

In my tenure of profession I have not seen manager not enabling when one wanted to pursue other interests. I wanted to explore different opportunities, working in different places, different culture and at SAP this possibility does exist. I also felt it was time to take a new route and hence I moved out. I can say without my managers consent they would have been happy if I had not left but in every person’s chart there is something called as time.

You either grab the apple when it is ripe or see it falling down and later think that maybe you should have taken it. I did not repent when I let the apple fall down in the past. For personal reasons I did let go of few in the past and now I decided to grab it shaking everything and everyone from the zone of comfort with it.

In a change there are always new challenges, it would not be a smooth transition but it all depends on how we align ourselves. To end the series of posts with one last word “there is no secret ingredient”. (click on the below link)

The secret ingredient

Thanks to all those who read the series of 4 posts patiently.

 

 

15yrs gone by (Office life)

People ask me how did I manage to be in same company, same team working on same stuff for past 13.5yrs.

Life at SAP offers you plethora of opportunities both inside and outside. While I was working with same team I added work to my portfolio which would be beneficial for organisation and self. There are possibilities to explore new areas of work. Apart from that there are possibilities to contribute your service for other teams who would need an extra hand. If you don’t want to contribute elsewhere, you can always work on innovation. No one literally stops you from coming up with an idea and working on the same. The importance is in finding people of similar pulse. There are also other possibilities like contributing for social cause in the buckets of projects that come up especially during “Month of Service”. And lastly you can explore the world outside on your own. Given the number of vacation days is pretty much sufficient to take a break always and re-energize oneself. One can also dedicate 120% to work but I have seen this organisation being genuinely concerned if you do not take a break.

It all depends on the individual of how he/she wants to shape up. Work is always a priority, if there is a conflict of interest there is always the door to walk out. I personally explored all the options indulged in some. There are frustrations at times which is there everywhere when we do not see light even at the end of the tunnel. There is an internal satisfaction when you hear sounds of clap after a presentation or words of appreciation from stakeholders or a word of thanks from customer.

Sports is considered as a team event. Individual activities like running and cycling are considered leisure activities for personal interest. The management at SAP believed in us (the employees) and where ready to invest in this domain. This was at a time when no corporate was literally investing on employees in individual sports. There was a mutual benefit again for organisation and for employees. Today if SAPRoadies has a name outside or inside is because management decided to invest in this.

There are times when I felt proud of what I had done and there are times when I had let down. When I look back, am happy in whatever I did contribute and I could have done lot better than what I did in some areas. May not be 100% in all but definitely sufficient to have held on for 13yrs!

If everything was going good then why did I decide to move out? Is it managers? Is it conflict of interest? Any other reason?