Life in the Middle Lane

Today, tomorrow, and Tuesday I’m in Richmond, VA at the ICMA conference bullying city and county managers (and a few stray recruiters and consultants) into giving me a job.

I have talked my @ss off today. I have met so many people, received so many cards (I don’t have any dammit!). Now it’s 10 pm, and the introvert in me is very tired. I don’t want to talk to anyone for a while.

Since 10 am I have been ON. Smiling, smoozing, hob-nobing, whatever and but by 8pm, my feet (in 3 inch heels) were DONE. I couldn’t bring myself to have a meaningful conversation with another person. All I was willing to talk about was how tired I was and how I wanted to go back to my room.

However, it has been a great day. And I wrote a cool post (I think) about some of what I learned today.

You can read it all here. But here are some highlights.

I attended two great sessions. The first was a Speed Coaching session where seasoned managers talked to us newbies about how to make it do what it do, i.e. be sucessful, get jobs, navigate the career ladder(s), etc.

Here’s what I learned:

*I need to discover my values and look for organizations that reflect those values. In my case, that means finding an organization that is progressive, forward thinking, and creative. For others, that may mean finding an organization that values loyalty, “stick-to-it-ive-ness” or some other core personal value.

*Don’t get pigeoned-holed. I heard the word “generalist” at least 10 times. According to the manager coaches, it is hard to move from a departmental role to a Manager/Assistant role. I was told that if I want to be a Manager, I should be looking at “Assistant to” or Management Analyst jobs more so than jobs in departments.

*On the other hand, I was also told to be flexible. This relates to moving between organizations, relocating geographically, and the types of jobs that I take. In all of these, I need to be willing to learn as much as I can and gain a wide range of experiences as I advance up my career ladder.

*I need to have clear career goals. As I interview with different jurisdictions, I need to know how I can contribute to the organization, but I also need to know what I hope to learn; should it be budgeting, personnel, supervision, or just more about an issue.

*I need to build a network and have mentors. Several managers told me that they had help moving up the management ranks. Many of them had bosses who encouraged them to apply for jobs that would give them additional leadership experience or they had folks to tell them that it was time to more from one position to another.

*I need to decide what size organization works best for me. Several mangers said that there are basically two tracks: I could join a smaller organization where I could be in a higher position where I would have more responsibility or I could join a larger organization, where I would be probably be in a “lower” position, but would have more resources and more opportunity for growth. I also heard that is it hard to move from the small org. track to the large org track.

*Stand out from the crowd. Cultivate what makes you different. If your passions, (like mine) include housing policy, economic and downtown development, then you should work with that as a starting place. If you are a creative, out of the box thinker (also, like me) let it shine!

I also had the chance to attend a Women In Management Luncheon, where there was a panel discussion that talked about challenges and opportunities that face female managers, and up and coming female managers. Surprisingly (or not) I heard an echo of the same things that I heard at the Speed Coaching event. Several panelists talked about being open to lots of opportunities, learn as much as you can, get mentors often and early, trust your intuition, etc.

Here’s some other things that I heard:

*Be fearless- Don’t be afraid to get promoted. And don’t doubt your abilities. Take risks!

*Be Confident- Do the thing that you think you can not do (because you can, indeed, do those things)

*Aim high- Don’t think that, because you are a woman, you can’t (or shouldn’t be) a City or County Manager.

*You can be kind and tough. And know that others shouldn’t mistake your kindness for weakness. It is important to be true to yourself, so if you are genuinely a gentle person, do that! But be prepared to stand up and make the hard decisions when they are called for. You are a leader, after all.

*Have soft skills! Anyone can learn budgeting, but everyone can’t lead people, everyone doesn’t communicate well, everyone can’t be empathetic.
Other things today….

I attended a Next Generation Mixer (it was so-so, full of 20-somethings, they wanted me to pay for water (WTF?) and I was too tired to chit-chat), and the Midwest and Mountain Plains Regional meetings (getting my hustle on), but most of the managers I have met have been from Cali. And the GF said that she would follow me to Cali, so I’m sending my resumes attached to Thank You emails. I’m getting a job.

Believe it.

The Universe needs all the help she can get!

 You may or may not know that I have been away for the past few days on a Chamber of Commerce trip to Ann Arbor. Today was the first and only day that I’ll be in class this week.

I didn’t blog while I was away (I was too busy talking to folks and generally getting into trouble).

For the next few days, I’ll be decompressing and analyzing my experience and hopefully, I’ll find the time to share all the really cool stuff that I got to see and do. I’m also planning to cross-post on OrangePolitics, so that folks in Orange County that didn’t get to go on the trip get to hear my perspective on the Ann Arbor Inter-City Visit.

On a slightly different note, I am feeling a little overwhelmed with my life. The Ann Arbor trip took 3 complete days out of my life. Those were days that I missed class, and didn’t do any reading or research. Those three days left me completely tired and wanting to go to bed immediately. Those were three days that I half-checked my email and I am still not finished getting back to folks. (If you emailed me between Friday and today, I may not have gotten to you yet)

Bottom line, I’m in grad school, I work two jobs, and I blog 2-4 times a week. I have a lot going on, and I’m not willing to let anything go. Everything that I am currently involved in are things that are really important to me, and it’s worth my sanity to stay involved. I think I almost prefer it this way.

Maybe being slightly overwhelmed is going to be the standard for my life. Maybe this is one of the drawbacks of having varied interests. I do a little bit of everything, and I’m the only one who can see the pattern of how it all fits together.

When I think of all the things I have to do, I have to remember to take deep breaths and keep it together. I have to believe that everything is going to be ok. Otherwise, I may start crying and never stop. And I can’t do that since this coming weekend I’m going to a conference in Richmond where I will be blogging and networking and finding a job. (*sign. Why do I keep signing up for these things? I love it, that’s why.)

Two conferences two weeks in a row will leave me even more behind. And even more stressed. And even more crazy. I have research to do and papers to write and presentations to give! But I go to these conferences and I participate through blogging because it is important to me.

In Richmond, I’m going to pass out my resume, and someone is going to offer me my dream job. It is going to happen. The Universe and I have been talking again.

Happy Hump Day!