I’m trying to figure out if I’m reading this situation correctly at work or overthinking it. I recently created a pretty important internal deliverable (strategy guide deck), and I’ve been proactive about pushing it forward — setting up meetings with different stakeholders, thinking through structure, etc.
Here’s where I’m confused:
For one of the sessions, my manager is having a more established team member present it.
For another session I scheduled with a senior stakeholder (higher-stakes audience), my manager won’t be there. I also put him as optional as he was vague about whether he expects us to lead these meetings or wants to be there.
When I asked if I should lead or reschedule, he checked if another established person could lead. When that person wasn’t available, he told me to reschedule instead of having me run it. Meanwhile, a newer team member has some sessions where she is leading.
So now I’m sitting here like… what’s the signal?
On one hand:
1-I built the actual content, and I was active in driving the coordination (although he didn’t ask me)
2-My manager gives me a lot of independence and doesn’t micromanage my work
On the other hand:
I’m not consistently the one presenting it unless it’s for our internal team. In at least one higher-stakes case, he preferred to delay rather than have me lead
I can’t tell if this means, he doesn’t fully trust me to represent the work yet or he sees me more as a “behind-the-scenes executor” vs someone to put in front of stakeholders or he’s just being risk-conscious depending on the audience.
It is honestly making me feel discouraged especially that I am someone who is proactive when it comes to work and go above and beyond.