Rob Weis

Three years is my magic number. It’s a pivotal moment in my career! I’ve now surpassed my record for longest full time employment with the same employer. I typically estimate 18 months in the IT field as a single lifetime worth of work and experience. But, going 36 months is huge!

The challenges of today are much different than when I began 3 years ago. We’ve fought and upgraded most of the IT infrastructure, attacked the low hanging fruit in our software engineering and database world, and improved the relationship IT has with upper management. But, there’s so much more to do in areas like project management, IT governance, business intelligence, work flow, and unifying our communications. We’re finally able to start transitioning towards enabling deeper automation with the business. But, the struggles of today are not without their problems.

Today there’s more to work than just work. It’s about working on the right things that impact the business, rather than just our team. Work involves different rewards than we previously experienced. The thrill of automating our own work or improving our own world is no longer the carrot. The next three years must be a transition towards business innovation that will leverage our last three years worth of internal improvements.

Today, as an IT leader, I face new issues with motivation, energy, and morale for myself and the team. Finding the motivation and energy within the same corporate culture I’ve embraced over the last three years is one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever faced. To be clear, I love my current company and regard them as best employer I’ve ever experienced. But the question and an answer is still in my mind, am I as effective, energetic, and productive as my first year? Probably not.

Realizing that when I began this position, anything was seen as possible. Recognizing that this is not true because of the reality of the company, it’s culture, it’s resources, and it’s trust in me is not unlimited. Embracing the concept that anything is possible, within my current means, is the new path forward.

We as a team have built routines and ruts because they work. We’re a reliable force of talent, but how do we retain this level of productivity and not get burnt out?  Fighting the routine and the daily ruts seem to be an ongoing battle at this point. How do you be consistent and spontaneous at the same time?

It feels like team morale has shifted slightly from the optimistic “get’er done” perspective towards a more lackadaisical approach of being easily overwhelmed by the demands of the day. Our day to day fire fighting percentage is slowly creeping up to the point of getting next to nothing done on many of our projects. Our focus is not in place and is slowly creating burnout.

As my career grows and the company I work for grows, it may well be possible that each will not grow evenly. The company may be outgrowing my capabilities while I try to catch up. And in some cases, my ideas may exceed the capabilities of the company as it matures. At the end of the day, I’m happy with my employer and the challenges within. Both of us will grow together and be successful over the next 3 years. This I know for sure.