Exclusion at work worries team member
Dear Amy: I'm being excluded from a project at work and it's been very difficult for me to cope. I'm wondering if I am overreacting.
I work as part of a small team of six artists: four production artists (myself included) and two lead artists. We usually work very closely together. This project has a ton of work for everyone except one person, and that person turned out to be me.
Every day, my team is consumed with this project. I's all they talk about. They have meetings, and I'm left sitting by myself in our rows of desks. They have their own dedicated chat that I am not invited to and they have discussions, make team announcements and have in-jokes, all of which I am not privy to. They're learning, getting experience in our craft and bonding as a team while I am excluded.
Meanwhile the work I've been assigned is not related to my job description.
I asked the supervisor if I could work on the team project, and he said no. I asked my teammates if there was anything they needed help with and was met with silence.
I try to be rational about this and think positively, but every day it gets more difficult as I feel more and more excluded and less valuable to the team.
I feel very upset over this. Have my team leads failed in how they've handled this project? Should they have found something for me to do, or at least allowed me to be privy to the information about the project? Am I being oversensitive? Should I tell my leads how this has made me feel? Or should I just suck it up and stay quiet? What can I do to be more proactive about this situation?
At this point, I'm not sure what's valid or appropriate. I don't want to be seen as emotional or not a team player, but I cannot deny that it has greatly upset me.
It is very difficult to watch my entire team work on something without me.
Your advice?
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