Omg, so...I had to get a CT scan recently.
It was a bit of a fussy procedure.
I had to arrive one hour early to chug 2 quarts of barium which was sweetened with some kind of fake sweetener that made me sick to my stomach.
I lay on a table that went back and forth inside a big metal ring, with my arm suspended so that barium could also be injected via IV. It was intimidating.
I then waited a couple weeks to get my results.
When I clicked on them, I read for a moment…
…and then burst out laughing.
This is what they said:
LUNGS: Unremarkable.
HEART: Unremarkable.
LIVER: Unremarkable.
BILIARY: Unremarkable.
PANCREAS: Unremarkable.
ADRENAL GLANDS: Unremarkable
[…]
…And so continued through a comprehensive list of my internal organs, each “Unremarkable”, before culminating in a final summary:
IMPRESSION:
Unremarkable study.
[lol]
If you went on a date and then afterwards your date told their friend that your clothing and each of your body parts were “unremarkable,” I bet you’d be pissed!
But yet, in a medical context, being “unremarkable” is GREAT. It means “everything’s working properly, nothing to see here.”
Being a good creative lead is kind of like this.
If the project is going well, what people perceive is merely the absence of a disaster. Unremarkable.
No one is going to clap you on back and say “Oh, sweet, we progressed according to the project plan that you defined, and as a result, 3 weeks from now we AREN’T going to be late! Nice one!” Nope. Sorry. They likely don’t realize you even did that work or how hard it is.
People usually also won’t say, “Hey, thanks for saying no to all the right things so we could focus on what really mattered and do it properly and well."
It’s very different from being an individual creative where the value is that you're providing is usually more clearly defined and it's much more likely that people will a) notice it, and b) say something encouraging to you about it.
Things go south when managers show up to management expecting to be told how good of a job they’re doing all the time. Suddenly you’ve got everyone twisted into knots trying to keep you happy instead of using their own sovereignty and skills to solve problems. This can lead to major workflow issues.
Therefore, progressing to senior management often requires an adjustment in your expectations of positive reinforcement. Because you’ll mostly only get feedback about what ISN’T going well.
If you have not already felt this, just know: someday you are going to regard the mere absence of a fire-drill as a really great day.
I wish you a truly unremarkable day!
Cathy