On My Own?

Near the end of the workday on Monday, my boss called an impromptu meeting with all of the members of the department she oversees (just me and one other person).  Since I had no idea what the purpose of the meeting was, I panicked a little and thought that we might be receiving a reprimand -- I couldn't think of anything that had been done that would warrant one, I was just nervous.

As it turns out, my boss -- the head of marketing -- gave her two week notice.  She admitted that it was a really tough decision since she not only likes working for Danfoss, she likes working with us, her subordinates.  The reason for her move is that she had an opportunity to move back to the area she's originally from and decided to take it.

And now the big question: how will this affect me?  I don't know yet, but probably not a whole lot.  Even though I'm in the marketing department, I only occasionally work on assignments for marketing.  Most of my time is taken up working on standardizing installation guides and writing/filming videos.  There certainly are marketing things that come up on a regular basis, but they're simple projects that I finish quickly.  In fact, for the last few months, I've been working mostly independently from my boss.  She and I would meet every couple of weeks to make sure we were both on the same page, but she wasn't giving me assignments and I rarely reported to her when I completed a project.  When her replacement is hired, that may change, but I won't be lost during the interim.

The other person in the department, Michael, is in a much tougher position.  He only started three weeks ago, so he's still learning he's role.  Plus, he is definitely a marketing person and had been working very closely with our boss on most of his assignments.  I'm sure something will be worked out, but he's going to be feeling her absence more than I will.

I had just been thinking recently about how weird it was that I was in the marketing department, despite doing so little marketing.  Now I'm thinking that it's a bit of a blessing, since I've mostly been working on my own.  Let's hope that my next boss will be as willing to let me run free as my soon-to-be-former boss has.