I started my new work on last Thursday and it has been so far a thrilling journey. Thrilling and tiring to some degree as I once again need to pick up the pieces and relearn a whole new genre of work. Whatever I had learnt in the past has not certainly gone to waste. On the contrary I believe it has shaped me further to prepare for this new career path. And as I pursue down this career path, I would like to take a moment to just take a step and provide some reflection points on this new job of mine. These points are based on a couple of ideas and thoughts that I have been having and pondering upon in the last few days as I eased my way and transitioned to a new career path.
# 1 – What am I really doing?
My new role has evolved from just being a management consultant to actually now being the Head of Organisation Design. Organisation Design and Development were one of the main reasons I joined the consulting firm back in 2008. I was drawn to the prospect of actually being involved in such “sexy” organization strategy particularly around the areas of OB and OD. In fact I was planning to do my PhD in this area of concentration. However my role pretty soon was limited to change management for large IT implementation systems and over time I became adept at it. But something was still lingering and finally having landed the “holy grail of Talent and Organization consulting” I feel extremely privileged to be in this role.
# 2 – Not a cookie-cutter role
What’s unique and exciting as well as edifying about this role is that while it is a much slower pace role compared to what I was doing all these years, there are many exciting avenues for me to pursue and help the department grow. My boss, who’s pretty awesome and quite progressive had already invited me to my first consultant presentation for some future opportunity role. She’s also mandated a couple of potential new “white spaces” she would like me to take a look and investigate further – all within the scope of HR and Organisation Development – all considered “hot holy grail initiatives” for any management consultant.
# 3 – It’s a Big Step
I had updated my new job role in LinkedIn and within hours I got a number of congratulatory remarks from peers and friends. That’s when I realised, after looking at my job title that it is indeed a big step. I don’t mean to brag but I do wish to highlight that this is indeed a fantastic achievement for me personally and it is a right step in my career path.
#4 – The chance to make an Impact
The fact that I am working as a Head of Org. Design for a reputed ASEAN bank is something that is definitely commendable and admirable. After years of working and toiling for clients whom some of which I was of the opinion were just plain lazy and simply threw money at consultants to do very meaningful work, I am happy to finally be in the driver’s seat where I hope to use my years of experience to make valuable and lasting contributions to a bank that wishes to be a top key player in the ASEAN market.
I would finally be in the driver’s seat to serve as an impactful advisor to key leadership people whom I will be working with and supporting. Finally, no more meaningless just-do-it-for-the-sake-of-doing it type of work.
