Should I feel flattered or dumped on?

[sameagain]

I work in finance and as you can imagine there's a fair bit of turmoil ATM.

As part of trying to save ourselves, a plan/project has been put in place and a man 2 grades above me (and twice the salary) is supposed to be running it.

The plan makes perfect sense and really needs to work, but it's not going well so far. His (our) boss has said to me today "X doesn't have the respect of the staff, I need someone they know/like/trust/respect to run it for me"

I'm really up for the challenge. I only work p-t and TBH prob haven't pulled my weight while my DC's were small, but they're older now and I have been looking for something interesting to do. But one of those people who respect me so much said " well they saw you coming" when hearing that I was going to do the job of a much more senior person.

BTW I prob won't get any public acknowledgement, even if it goes well, as I won't officially replace X - he will still be in charge, even if he's not actually doing anything, but big boss knows what's what.

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oops -it's not the whole job as such, just a project that will form a relatively small part of our jobs iyswim

Basically it involves getting a bunch of people to spend c. 1 hout per week doing something they don't really want to do - he's trying to do it by e-mailing them with loads of spreadsheets to complete!!!

I spent 5 mins talking to them individually today and have almost total buy in. I will follow up (again by actually talking to them) and help those who need it and the job will get done. It's not difficult, but it is a bit daunting for those haven't done it before.

Don't think I've really got a choice TBH.

I'd do it (as long as I could manage it without jeopardising my other responsibilities). But I'd make sure I would byepass 'man in the middle who should be doing this job'and as much as possible and report direct with the big boss. Also leave a good email trail to back this up and show what you personally have done.

If you suspect that the 'man in the middle' is taking credit for your efforts, then ask to do something else.

Give it a few months, then see how you feel.

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Could be good for you if all goes to plan. There are a couple of things that strike me though, reading your post.

The first is to be wary of situations where people flatter you and then ask you to do something. This happens where I work, and when I start hearing "youre so much better, youre so good" etc, then always makes me think twice as hard about what Im being asked to do. Not that I'm not really good, you understand , just that people dont usually seem to say it all the time.

The second concern I have about your post is whether if this all goes wrong you are going to be the scapegoat?

is your direct boss inthe loop about this? if not i would run away screaming