Slotted!

Today, the manning under the new organizational structure came out. Just like the survey conducted last May, 2011, the manning was also released through the company intranet facility.

As advised around 6 weeks ago, I was slotted to handle the realigned Training and Oversight Division (T&OD). I’ve been having mixed feelings about this post ever since it was first mentioned to me. Fear being the biggest of all these feelings because, in all my 14 years of being an HR practitioner, I have always avoided being with Training. I can’t exactly say the reason why, basta, ayoko lang. 

So when my Manager informed me that I shall be heading the T&OD, all I can manage to do was give her this wide-eye, open-mouthed stare sabay hirit ng "joke ba yan?!". When that meeting ended and I got out of the meeting room, walking back to my work cube, I was kind of in a shock and my mind was like doing this rewind thing, only a thousand times faster. I was really thinking as far back as my 1^st job as HR in the private sector, trying to come up with a reason that I can give to my boss why I couldn't be handling T&OD. Obviously and sadly, I can’t find one.  As I reached my work cube, something clicked, like someone whispered: "It’s time for you to do this, Rose. You've been avoiding Training like a plague and now, there's no where else to go." Resigned to this new development and on my way out, I passed by my boss and told her, “Okay na. Tangggap ko na. This is where God wants me to be. Pero wala talaga akong background sa Training, ma’am, kaya aaralin ko pa yan.” To which she replied, “Pareho lang tayo. Sabay natin to aaralin”.  Then, I left for the day.

But from that time on, I always have this question if I came up with the right decision. For several days after that meeting, a part of me was like, “ano kaya, kausapin ko na lang ulit ang Corplan, baka may open pang slot kay Atty. Ting”. You see, I was also talked to by the 2 incoming managers of the Corporate Planning. I had reservations transferring for 2 reasons: One, I love my career as an HR. When I was asked by 1 of the incoming Corplan Managers where my heart is, “nasa HR ba, Rose?” without hesitation, I nodded; and two: There could be an effect on my supervisor’s allowance because the position in Corplan, though of equivalent rank, does not entail supervisory function, hence, I might not be entitled to RATA. So after I was informed of being the T&OD head, I was having “what if’s” about the Corplan offers which I have already turned down by that time.

That weekend, I prayed about it. And my prayer went like this: “Papa God, alam ko kaya ko naman po, kasi You blessed me naman with some intellect and a lot of lakas ng loob, madami lang talagang gagawin at aaralin. Pero ang tanong ko lang naman po, magiging effective po ba ako sa post na to? Kasi, di ba, di naman po ako teacher by nature? Wala ho akong tyaga talaga mag-teach, tapos ngayon trainor pa. Oo, facilitator lang siguro ako most of the time, pero just the same, I still have to teach my staff din about this, kasi pare-pareho kameng walang background sa training. Tapos, alam Mo naman po diba, na hangga’t maari, ayoko na ho ng work sched ko like the one I had for the last 10 years? Na-e-enjoy ko na po ang buhay ko ngayon, learning new things, nagkakaroon na po ng balance ang buhay ko between work and personal stuff. Eh para pong dito sa bagong post ko, babalik ako ulit sa 14 hours/day 7days/week na routine, sa dami ho ng aaralin.” And that prayer went on and on.

The following week, I and two of my would-be staff in T&OD were made to attend a 2 day-seminar in Ateneo Makati. The seminar, which was about computing the return on investment of training programs, is actually the last part already of a 4-part Seminar / Program on Training, in short, we didn’t get to attend the first 3 parts to complete the entire program! That’s when I got some sort of an answer to my question (if I can do this, head the T&OD): that even though it is the last part, I managed to understand what the seminar was all about. And my team (from GSIS), being the neophytes in training, were easily accepted and readily embraced by our co-participants from different companies. They readily answered our queries and were generous enough to give us copies of the training forms they use in their respective companies. Added to these is the enthusiasm I saw from my 2 staff. At that moment, I knew that I being the training head can work out.

Save for one fact, which I was able to confirm only today through the manning report posted and that is having another a staff with whom I have my reservations about, I now have the faith in myself and the incoming T&OD team which I believe is really crucial to make this work.

Lastly, this afternoon, I chanced upon the incumbents of Training Department preparing their files for turnover to us. I took the liberty of having a go-see and I was really delighted and sincerely touched to learn that they were preparing to pass on all those documents to me in proper order, even to the point of providing me an Excel file so that when a file is needed, all I had to do was press “ctrl+f” on the pc. For this, I am truly grateful to the current Training Staff.

To the incoming Training and Oversight Staff: LET’S ROLL and LET THE FUN BEGIN!