Diary of an interim
After working in a permanent role in the pharmaceutical industry for eight years, Jane has decided to change her lifestyle - to become an interim manager undertaking specific assignments in a bid to achieve a better work/life balance.
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Episode Nine - A new role and a personal dilemma
Feel distinctly unsettled in every area of my life right now. Just what is happening at work? Is something dramatic about to break? Have I contributed to it in any way with my US visit and presentation?
Try to get on with emails and my own 'to do' list but find it hard to concentrate. There's a strange atmosphere in the office today. Hardly anyone around and those who are have their heads down. Really want to find out what is going on but it seems no-one is going to tell me. As for Tony where has he disappeared to?
Decide to park the James issue for now. Tempted to send back an email but unsure what to say in response. Know what I want to say but equally know I shouldn't. After all my life is settled and happy... isn't it?
Unfortunately there's little change in atmosphere or levels of communication the next day in the office and I am beginning to feel very isolated. If only someone would explain what is going on, I could get on with my work on Project Hermes. I need to do the follow-up actions from the US meeting, but given the fallout, I'm unsure how to proceed. In Tony's absence there isn't really anyone else I can take guidance from except, possibly, just possibly, James…As it is I feel de-motivated and out of the loop. Is this a common experience for interims?
Am tempted to ring the agency but decide not to…worried they may feel I am always running to them with problems, after all I am an 'experienced industry professional'. Although my Buddy was very sympathetic over the US business...
The next day I am asked to see the Medical Director responsible for our therapeutic area (Tony's boss) and told that I now have three people reporting to me. Not sure how to take this - is it a promotion? How does this role relate to Tony's whose continued absence remains unexplained. Feeling under-confident after the US episode I don't raise any objections but afterwards feel slightly put upon. I know the three people who I've been asked to manage, who all seem pleasant enough as peers. However, I'm not sure how they are going to take to my suddenly becoming their boss. After all I am only interim.
On the drive home I start to think. Wasn't one of the reasons I became an interim to get away from management? It was one of the areas I disliked about my permanent role and was very glad to leave in order to concentrate on the more technical aspects of PV. Now I seem to find myself back in the same place.
Next few days are very hectic, with my younger son waking to find himself covered in a rash which turns out to be Chicken Pox. Why now? Adding nurse to my already long list of roles I am not sure who I am anymore. And I still haven't responded to THAT email...
Escape for a welcome glass of wine with a girlfriend one evening and I tell her about the new management element of my job. She is horrified. You need to re-negotiate your contract with the agency, she tells me.
Acting on her advice I call them the next day and they are in total agreement. Very quickly they contact the client and within a couple of days my daily rate has been increased to reflect the new role. I am very impressed but not sure I want the extra responsibility. In fact for the first time in many weeks I wonder whether I have made the right decision to become an interim?
Just as things don't seem they could get more complicated, I see another email from James in my Inbox. Why haven't I responded to his last email? Is it that I don't feel the same as he does? Anyway he's coming over to the UK on business next week and perhaps we can talk? Not now…..
Will Jane agree to meet up with James? Will her new role involve her working more closely with the US team? What does she decide to do about her interim role? Does anything become clearer at the office?
See Jane's next diary entry...
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Next entry - Tony disappears and another problem looms
Previous episodes
Episode Eight - Corporate emergency and old flames reflicker
Episode Seven - Stressful situations and sleepless night
Episode Six - New experience and an old face
Episode Five - What's a work/life balance?
Episode Four - Making a real contribution and changing projects
Episode Three - The First Assignment
Episode One - Initial Euphoria