A change in career direction

[Exterous]

Well this will be interesting. I’ve been successful in growing my team, our prominence, and activities to the point where it became unsustainable for me, even after they gave me a manager to take some of the workload. So January 1st we will start the process I proposed to split my team. I’ll be giving up a number of areas of responsibility and a quite a few people I’ve hired and worked with for years. I think we’ve built an incredible team, done some amazing things, had a lot of fun together and I’m stepping away from large parts of that. The goal is to allow me to focus on growing the other half of the team's activities and get a little more work life balance back.

It was a pretty tough decision as it meant letting go of people and responsibilities I liked. And I’ll have to become ok with the fact that, moving forward, someone may take the team I left behind in another direction. I'm excited to have more ability to focus on growing programs and people and it's the right decision for the business, the people we serve, and likely for the soon to be two separate teams. But it will still be tough

One interesting outcome so far is that, as a leader you don’t always get to see what people really think of you, your style, and your decisions. As I’ve talked individually to most of the people affected by this point I do take some satisfaction from the positive responses of the people staying with me. There were even a few tears from those who are not. I mean I’m not glad they’re going to miss me but it does provide some validation about me and how I interact with people and the work

 

[thestrangebrew1]

You sound like an awesome boss to work for. The best thing you can do is keep in touch with those you enjoyed working with if you're not going to be seeing them regularly anymore. I took a life changing position in August and miss my staff. But my work environment is so much better, and my commute went down from 40 mins to 4 mins so I have that much more time to spend with my family. Good luck to you!

 

[Tweak155]

I would not still be at my company if not for my boss. They are pretty much the reason people stay at or leave a company IMO.

 

[Exterous]

You sound like an awesome boss to work for. The best thing you can do is keep in touch with those you enjoyed working with if you're not going to be seeing them regularly anymore. I took a life changing position in August and miss my staff. But my work environment is so much better, and my commute went down from 40 mins to 4 mins so I have that much more time to spend with my family. Good luck to you!

Thanks! Fortunately the soon to be two teams will still need to work closely on a number of items so there is that - but it's obviously going to be a different dynamic. And just the commute alone must be a big deal for you let alone the better work environment. Glad that has worked out for you!

I would not still be at my company if not for my boss. They are pretty much the reason people stay at or leave a company IMO.

I had some good examples for how to be a good boss and two fantastic examples about how to be a terrible and toxic one. Weird how I don't work with the toxic ones anymore...

 

[JEDI]

It was a pretty tough decision as it meant letting go of people and responsibilities I liked. And I’ll have to become ok with the fact that, moving forward, someone may take the team I left behind in another direction. I'm excited to have more ability to focus on growing programs and people and it's the right decision for the business, the people we serve, and likely for the soon to be two separate teams. But it will still be tough

One interesting outcome so far is that, as a leader you don’t always get to see what people really think of you, your style, and your decisions. As I’ve talked individually to most of the people affected by this point I do take some satisfaction from the positive responses of the people staying with me. There were even a few tears from those who are not. I mean I’m not glad they’re going to miss me but it does provide some validation about me and how I interact with people and the work

if having a mgr running the other team while you're still overall in charge isn't helping with your goal of work life balance then giving up total responsibility for the 2nd team is a good idea.

but i see a future where your handpicked boss of the 2nd team leaves and an outsider comes in and takes over.
What if you disagree with the new direction he takes, especially since your teams are intertwined?

 

[Exterous]

if having a mgr running the other team while you're still overall in charge isn't helping with your goal of work life balance then giving up total responsibility for the 2nd team is a good idea.

but i see a future where your handpicked boss of the 2nd team leaves and an outsider comes in and takes over.
What if you disagree with the new direction he takes, especially since your teams are intertwined?

It's certainly a possibility I have considered. To some extent that would be up to our overall leadership as I won't be losing my voice there. But if I'm giving up control I have to actually give up control. So as long as the goals are being met within our policies and requirements....well I have to be ok with that. And that butts up against my health and well being along side work life balance so its a pretty important consideration overall. The eventual goal is to not have the teams intertwined reporting line and job responsibility wise - but maintain the 'close collaboration' where needed.

There's also a pretty strong likelihood they'd try to claw me back into leading both teams if the new leader leaves. So I've already got that game planned - time boxed period with a pay differential of a not insubstantial amount to account for my time commitments while they conduct a job search and get a new person up to speed.