bloggedy blog: the personal weblog of a music lover and aging punk wannabe

:: Saturday, April 17, 2004 ::

Getting Unstuck
The past few months have been tumultuous at work. Actually, the past year has been filled with uncertainty, chaos and a good dose of paranoia and mistrust, thanks to some structural changes. I won't get into the details, but there are four marketing/communications offices all thrown together in one big room, partitioned into cubes and a few claustrophobic offices (for we illustrious managerial types). We've got writers, graphic designers, web designers, a videographer, and other staff of all mixes working in this tight environment, where if one person sneezes everyone else knows about it. There's also a good deal of tension in the room due to some staffing decisions, and although things are better now than they were six months ago, things could always be better.

So I was excited to receive my latest BzzAgent package in the mail Thursday. (Yes, I am a secret agent, a member of a clandestine outfit of marketeers.) The packet contained an advance copy of a new book, Unstuck -- and a couple of thingamagigs called "stuck-o-meters" that help people gauge whether they're stuck, and if so, how. I started reading the little book during my Stairmaster workout Thursday evening, and got halfway through it, discovering the root cause for some of the feelings of "stuckness" I get at work.

The book points out seven situations. For me, two in particular sort of, um, stick out from my perspective as one manager among four in this marketing group, and also in regard to the larger picture of the overall operation of the division and the university.

Directionless. "You're stuck because your team is all thrust, no vector. People are busy, but aren't necessarily effective. Everyone is obsessed with their to-do list, yet there is no "big picture" to guide their actions. Decisions are made with little context of the day -- let alone what tomorrow might bring."

Alone. "You're stuck because the team has lost its own religion. It used to feel like a close-knit unit, but somewhere along the way the sense of belonging was replaced by the haze of an identity crisis. Your crew lacks a culture to unite it, so it is far less than the sum of its parts."

The book's descriptions seem to nail the situation, at least from my perspective. Others on my team may feel otherwise -- they may not feel directionless or alone, but they may feel stuck in other ways.

This isn't to say that our offices aren't effective. Certainly, we're accomplishing a lot, but we've gone through a lot of change and disruption over the past year or so, and we have a lot of things to work through. I'm optimistic that this book might offer some ideas to help.

:: Andrew 10:42 + ::
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