Thanks for Nothing!!!?

Since 1984 my career was working as a Project Manager in the field of telecommunications. I still have on my bookshelf the years of logbooks of my daily interactions. I opened a notebook to a random day in September of 2011 and the memories came flooding back. I was in year 8 of working for a project management company to implement new system installations for its corporate clients. I coordinated the work of my company’s technicians, as well as of the various vendors for materials and engineering support.
One day I wrote in my notes that I was working on scheduling the initial job walk for a new project when I found a discrepancy in the Statement of Work (SOW). I called our client, confirmed the error, and reviewed that the revision would impact costs and schedules. The angst began! The availability of resources would need to be reviewed; the software programmer on the team would have to revise the plan and re-start the work; the quote had to be updated. My telephone call to our Account Executive, whose team wrote the SOW and made the sale, was not well-received.
Here is the “thanks for nothing” part of my story. I now work as a contracted resource on a variety of office administrative assignments. Still very detail oriented, I focus on small segments of work for clients, continuing to concentrate on customer service and accuracy. I am grateful for only minimal changes in scope and task assignments. Back in the day, when I might have said “Thanks for nothing!”, the phrase had a completely different meaning! Today I really mean thanks for no drama, no gamesmanship, no unkind remarks, and no unnecessary competition.
Besides the work experience “in the trenches”, I credit my confidence to years of being a member of Toastmasters learning communication methods in a variety of lessons and assignments. At our Toastmasters Chapter, we call ourselves the “Outliers”, and we offer you a comfortable way to learn impromptu speaking, planned speech delivery, evaluation, and meeting management. We laugh together, we listen to each other, we clap, and we support our members to bring success within reach of everyone, no matter the level of experience or confidence. Mentoring is available. Guests of all backgrounds are welcome to check out a Toastmasters meeting on Zoom. Please contact our VP of Education Tom Iland on 661-313-3323 or tom@thomasiland.com.