Should I stay or should I go

I want this David and Goliath T. It succinctly expresses my feelings after our group off-site yesterday:

I had an impromptu discussion this morning with my manager. I don’t even remember how it started…we were talking about the work I’ve been doing for Finance, which he actually had to help me with yesterday so that I could make it to our last minute off-site. He might have asked if I was “pissed” about something…so I told him I wasn’t pissed so much as frustrated.

This temporary stint with Finance has not unfolded as advertised—it was supposed to be an opportunity for me to gain a different perspective of the company, etc., but I haven’t learnt anything new—the work I’ve been given comes in drips and drabs. It's tedious and anyone with half a brain can do it.

The group meeting we had yesterday about our mandate going forward sounded great, but time will tell whether or not there is any substance behind the talk and if things will indeed pick up.

I told my manager very frankly that if things don’t change in the next couple months, I will be looking for a new job. And that’s when he suggested that we should go across the street for coffee so we wouldn’t have to whisper any more.

We sat and talked for about half an hour, and I’m glad that we had the conversation…it remains to be seen whether anything constructive will come of it since I’m not the only one in the group who is finding it hard to keep busy.

I've heard the little pep-talky speech about how people in our group are hand-picked blah blah blah. Today's analogy was that of the stable of race horses: senior management likes to have a stable of talent to run whichever race that comes up. (How flattering to be compared to a horse. The other analogy I've heard is that of players on a sports team and how we've got strength in the bench.)

Being underutilized, or worse, not utilized at all, is a problem for everyone on the team and for that reason, among others, group morale has been particularly low. You can't have a group of smart high-achievers and expect that they will be content to sit around un-challenged for long. To say it's poor talent management is an understatement.

Given how things have been the last 7 months, I’m not very optimistic that things will improve. But maybe I’ll be proven wrong. Regardless, I think it wise to update my CV…just in case.