In any organization there will be periods of time where a “gap” forms between the present and the future and it is key to build a bridge in order to “bridge” both sides together. This can also happen when an individual is looking to bridge the gap in their career within a particular organization. In this blog I will be discussing my journey from where I started to where I am not and how the YouTube video depicts exactly what I was going through in order to get to where I am today.
In 2010 I graduated the University of South Florida with a BA in Communications and was ready to embark on what has been tokened, “The Real World.” Prior to graduating with my BA I had a few years of experience working in higher education and I knew that was where I wanted to be; I was ready to give up what I knew just yet for something different. Luckily after college I was offered a job with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide (ERAU) and moved to Daytona Beach, FL which is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Tampa, Florida. The job I took at ERAU was not a position I planned to keep for long, I was offered an administrative position working directly for the Chief Technology Officer and although I loved my team I started to feel over qualified rather quickly. Within 12 to 18 months I was ready to do something different but I wasn’t ready to give up ERAU. I suppose this is where the two characters from the video sit down and give up because although I saw my future ahead, I didn’t know how to get there. The gap in my story was the uneasy feeling I got when I tried to look for other positions within the university. I often felt that my current supervisor wasn’t helping me to get to where I wanted go and I felt trapped; I needed a job but at what cost? Was being unhappy enough to stay?
Bridging the gap between my present and my future was a hard leap I had to make. I can remember vivid conversations between my mother and I regarding how I would make the transition. The first step was to start my MS degree in Leadership; obtaining another degree would make me more marketable and would help to begin building my bridge to my new future. After start my MS everything began to fall into place. Throughout my program I picked up on errors, typos, and other grammatical mistakes within the course which lead me to have many conversations with the Executive Director of the Instructional Design and Development Team. Those conversations are what finished the bridge for me. I was able to start marketing myself and my skills to a potential supervisor. I didn’t go into my MS program looking for these results but I am happy that this is what I ended up with.
I will openly admit that there was a point where I was the pessimist in the story. After being in a position I was unhappy with, I tried to find ways to voice my concerns and research other avenues in order to gain grasp on what I wanted to do with the organization. My previous supervisor, although talented, lacks the ability to help others when they are looking to move up and out of her department. For a period of 6 months I felt like I was just sitting at the end of the present and my only future opinion would be to leave the university and move back to Tampa. This is where the little “power players” and “visionary” came in and changed everything. I will say that I don’t regret who I worked for nor did the job tasks I performed because I feel as though that job is what open the doors for my current job. It was hard to leave my old team but I am much happier now which is a direct result of bridging my professional gap between what was my present and what was to become my future. I was lucky to have a large crowd pushing me to get out of my old job and into my new which helped me but it was nonetheless scary and nerve racking.
In this blog I spoke of an individual tale of power and vision but this often happens in organizations as well. Most organizations find themselves in situations like these when they are trying to grow, change, and create a new sense of organizational development. I believe that in order for organizations to be successful in journeys like these, they have to have “crowds” supporting them and when their supports (aka employees) are not satisfied in their jobs, they will not likely be on board for these types of changes. Leaders must remember to continuously work on their organizations from the inside out. I believe I am a better employee now and I am more invested in the organization as a whole.
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