I got demoted from my new supervisor job
I started a new job 5.5 months ago as a supervisor over a small 3 person team. This was my first official supervisory / leadership position. I was at my last job for 8 years and was on the cusp of a project manager role but I left because I felt pigeon holed in my main duties and I did not like the looks the new PM position.
I switched to a new company I was very excited for and thought it would be a great first leadership role for me. Same general industry but still lots of new info I needed to learn.
From the get go though I felt behind the 8-ball. About a month before I started, one member of the team quit so we were short staffed from the start. It took 2 months to hire someone new, meanwhile I’m still training and just trying to learn the job while also being short staffed. I also was noticing tons of gaps in the processes, lots of things not being done correctly. I tried to learn as I went while also trying to genuinely improve the processes. I definitely felt like my training was lacking but I tried to just keep the faith that it would all come together for me. Early on I felt very overwhelmed though, like I had so much on my plate I could never finish everything by the end of the day. I definitely had a lot of bad days and even my wife said she felt I was bringing a lot of stress home.
I had a couple development review meetings with my supervisor over the last 2 months. Each time I left feeling positive and like I was improving but of course had some things I needed to work and focus on. I truly did not realize things were headed in this direction until I got a random meeting invite with manager, supervisor, and HR. I knew the jig was up then.
My manager had a laundry list of deficiencies and areas where I did not meet expectations. Several of them I was pretty shocked to hear about since I had no idea I wasn’t meeting their expectations in those areas. I spoke about a couple of those but I knew no matter what I said in that room it was not going to change the outcome so I just relented.
Now I’m demoted to an entry level position. Docked my pay $7/hr. Hell, I’m working alongside the person I helped interview and hire less than 4 months ago!!!
My wife is 5 months pregnant with our first child. Honestly, I’m grateful to still have a job but…goddamn I would be lying if I said I wasn’t really hurting right now. How in the hell to I go back in there and keep going? How do I bounce back from this?
Any advice would be appreciated.