From probation to promotion

Once in my career I was placed on probation.

In summary, this meant that with another negative review, our single-income household would have become a zero-income household. I had never even been close to probation before that and never since. What led to my probation was questionable at best, but I will stop short of speculating on the possible motivations.

I was co-captain of an office softball team and after a client postponed a deadline I was working towards, I decided to leave the office “early” (about 4:00 pm) to help lead the team that evening. This was the main offense that prompted a meeting where I was placed on probation for not being accountable as well as “contrite” enough about it (yes that was an actual reason given).

My options were to resign or work 700 miles away from my family in an office in another state. I spent weeks at a time, for the good part of a year, away from my wife and two pre-teen children. But I worked hard, focused on the project experience with good people, and received several letters of recognition from my new out-of-state teammates. I came back to the original office for a while and was removed from probation with the office principal admitting to me that he was not sure why I was placed on probation in the first place. Soon after, an opportunity came along and I did resign (incidentally so did a high percentage of other staff members during that time). I received no exit interview from leadership other than filling out HR paperwork.

Contrast that with my experience when I was hired as an architectural consultant in 2013. A six-foot tall black architect with a goatee and dreadlocks is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a “good fit” for Chick-fil-A. Many people have told me so directly and indirectly. But things change. I provided unique perspective and effective strategy around design and technology and in 2018 I was hired onto the design team as a full-time staff member.

But I was not just hired. All along the way I was encouraged, guided, trusted and challenged by colleagues and leadership that encourages us to think of our co-workers as our "day family". "Doing life together" is another phrase that is commonly heard. There is a different kind of leadership happening here.

As of 2021 I am being promoted.

Does your leadership care about you or about you being on the clock and compliant? We do not always have a choice of where we get to spend our talent but our leaders can always choose what kind of leader they will be.

“Standard of care” is defined in many professions including architecture.

Leadership is more than a title, a person or group of people. Leadership is the culture and standard of care applied to influence others to do their best work.

Pay close attention to the standard of care being applied by the leadership around you

Leadership Matters.