New Day, New Perspective
If you’ve been following me, you’ll know that I recently made the leap to start my own consulting and project management firm. This leap has been an exciting one, though not the “jump without the net” that I thought it might be. During conversations about my off-boarding from my university position, my employer asked me to consider staying on short-term in a project capacity to help keep major processes moving forward while filling my vacancy. It was a win-win proposition, enabling the department to have continued assistance, and providing me with my first client for my new business venture. In effect though, this has resulted in a slower than usual de-coupling from my role than what the typical two-week’s notice provides. This has created both some interesting opportunities and some challenges:
I am no longer a full time university employee, and do not have all my former responsibilities or authority. For the most part, my former colleagues have been great about honoring my new schedule and new project responsibilities. It has been hard at times for the team to stop coming to me for the things I used to provide direction on, and sometimes difficult for me to not offer opinion of direction outside my project scope. As the weeks of the project have gone on, this has gotten easier. I also realize in taking on other projects, I will be invested in my project scope, and my past experience and content-specific expertise will now function as my authority.
I have needed to create intentional boundaries to stick to my agreed-upon project scope (e.g. a specific schedule, and clear scope of work). At times this has been hard for both my former team, university colleagues, and for me. But understanding that there will soon be someone else in my former role with a new vision and direction, it has been easier to start letting go of the small stuff. Also, due to my focused project scope and limited time table to get the work done, it has been easier to start letting go of the things that are no longer mine. Role clarity and understanding my lane have always been important, and certainly will be so in any future project work.
My perspective and focus is on the work, and because I am no longer a direct employee, the office or university politics no longer hold the same emotional sway. In so many ways this has been freeing, and a good confirmation for me of why I wanted to create my own consulting business. I get to be a neutral third party, with valuable experience to share.
Though I am directing some project activities that get me into the weeds, I am able to primarily fly over at the 30,000 foot view to keep the project moving forward. While my former role has always been about long-range planning and big-picture projects, the new role of consultant/project manager has allowed me to further embrace the big picture.
I am so excited to bring my professional focus and experience to my current project, and am grateful for the lessons I am already learning in this first endeavor for Hart O’Brien Consulting. I greatly look forward to applying these lessons to the next project opportunity.
If you are looking to complete a renovation project on your campus, need assistance with occupancy management or long-range planning activities, or you are short-staffed and need assistance with a near-term project, let’s connect. I bring substantial value to any project with an outside perspective and 20-years’ experience with student housing and facilities.
View my service offerings here.
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