Getting removed from a project/team and bouncing back.

When interviewed for a new role or applying for a promotion, a lot of time is spend by both parties (the applicant and the hiring party) to look at the accomplishment of the person itself. While being recognized for one's accomplishment is all good and dandy, I'd like to talk instead of the so call "failures" or stepbacks in one's short career.

What I'd like to elaborate further is on a simple and short summary of those times i was "removed" from a project/team and how i bounce back from it.

Story 1:

Back in my consulting days, there was a project, which i did not particularly gel with. As and when, whether it was an issue of working chemistry, a lack of clear focus and monotonous leadership or even due to my alleged , "non-cooperative" behavior, i was ultimately deemed unnecessary for the project team and was duly removed. I remembered the incident very clearly, as I had considered myself the Subject Matter Expert on the specific department's undertaking. The particular young, inexperienced, albeit ambitious project manager had demoted me to do menial things such as taking notes and compiling it for her, without explaining to me-what exactly are we doing as a team in order to improve the clients's processes.

I was pulled into a boardroom , and gently "let go". Despite my vehement protest, this was a lost caused as the young PM already had the back covered by higher authorities.

Story 2

Then during my Project Management contracting days, there was this particular director, who treated me as the on-call taxi driver. Fetching him back and forth from hotels to the clients meeting, doing pre-sales, steering comms meeting , project kick offs , alignment calls etc, was part of the deal (or so i naively thought). Wanting to prove my energy and enthusiasm i took it all in my stride and sacrifice days, nights, weekends to get things done.

And it was during one of the free chauffeuring ride, in the unearthly hour of 7 am (including waking up 2 hours earlier, since my house was 50km aways ) i gave to the director , that i was given the bombshell. I was slyly accused of not taking up the role of product consultant (which is entirely technical in nature) on top of my PM role, and hence i wasn't showing interest in the company's wellbeing.

Needless to say, this was a pre-cursor of me getting the boot, which in all true hindsight even back then- was a true blessing indeed. The project soon ran with with multiple hiccups, changes of PM, and various unresolved issues which dragged on continuously for months .

What did i learn and how i bounce back

1) Don't take it personally- as cliche as it sounds, we are all dispensable in an organisation. We like to think, that we are not, but really we are. Organisations and projects exist to serve a purpose, and i sure as hell, that purpose is not to put salary into one's account.

2) Learn that relationship really matters - If someone, particularly, your superiors, your sponsor etc, really likes you- then no matter what shortcomings, there will be people cutting you some slack. Call it political or whatever you like it, it doesn't matter. Humans will be humans. But if we are helpless in building relationship, then it's see you again, sayonora, zai jian, alavida, adios amigo!

3) Self believe and knowing what you really want in life- In workplace, business and any organisations, there will be political influence than can or cannot be seen. Many a times, people may not agree or may even start a nasty rumor to put you down, but as long as one is confident in one's own self belief, one can always pick up one's self for another fight, another time, another place, another day.

4) Learning from from failures- This is something i constantly remind myself, sometimes we learn the most from our failures. While completing a task/project/program successfully is a great accomplishment, life is all about ups and down. Getting removed might be seen as a failure (particularly in the corporate world), but life is all about learning. Learn, ask, analyse, what is the reason behind one's own removal. Was one really that bad? Was there something that could have been done better? Was it something that could have been mitigated ? How can i have improved? As long as we learn, we are living!

5) Keep moving forward - As hard as it seems sometimes, we must keep moving forward. It's okay to be sad for a short while, if after all that we have tried, we still fail. It's human after all to err, but as long as we keep moving forward, then we are okay. Off course, it's easier say than done, but be positive and keep moving forward

In Summary.

All in all, life in the corporate world while taxing, and fulfilling at the same time, can be fleeting at best and even being removed from the project/team is part and parcel of everyday life. To quote, even arguably the best basketballer who is still playing who say's "In life, there are more important things than basketball".

So put things into perspective, there are more important things in life, and taking a basketball as an analogy, bouncing back is equally important.