LEADING DYING DINOSAURS AND MILKING MULES

At the time you arrived for your first day at our organization, I was nearing my fortieth anniversary.  My entire career was with this one local organization.  I survived two mergers, celebrated new location openings, sadly saw some close their doors and countless c-suite changes.  All these events transformed our organization not only in growth but in maintaining its relevance in building and supporting all of the communities we proudly serve.

With each of these various milestones coupled with my understanding of our history and organizational processes, I provided insight to both volunteer policymakers, c-suite and leadership staff.  I come armed with self-confidence and self-initiative.  This led me to a diverse and very much fulfilling career thus far.  My willingness to adapt to change and receive new certifications opened doors to providing me career opportunities in positions outside of my initial interests of just working with children.

In all my years, I thought I’d seen it all — mergers, closures, leadership changes, and evolving systems.  But nothing prepared me for the first moment when you walked into my office.  After we were introduced, I remember you glanced at my 35-year anniversary certificate and made several callous comments.  You mentioned how you weren’t even conceived yet based on the certificate’s date.  Judging by your nervous laughter you must have caught glance of my facial expressions which must have spoken louder than anything I may have said.  It’s when you further commented how you didn’t realize not all dinosaurs went extinct; my facial expressions remained indifferent.  I watched you try to regain your composure as I welcomed you to the organization.  This moment taught me more about your leadership skills than any training ever could.

Your degree, certifications, and experience may have earned you the position and the title to become a member of the coveted and elite c-suite and my boss.  This only proved your credentials matched the dynamics and requirements of the position you applied and interviewed for.  Ultimately, you were offered the position of which you chose to accept.  This did not make you better than me, just more qualified to command a higher salary and position.  What I lacked in the formal educational demands, I made up for as the longest tenured employee, vast institutional knowledge and loyalty to this organization.  My own innate curiosity to never stop learning kept me relevant and flexibility to the many changes I faced throughout my career.

When you insisted, I do my work a certain way without even questioning my way of doing my job showed a lack of willingness to consider alternative approaches.  This felt to me as if it was driven by authority of a title-driven inflated ego rather than someone interested in understanding how I do my job.  Have you not heard of teamwork makes the dream work?  Yes, very much cliché, but there are reasons for them being used.  These overused expressions which still resonate a state of being which stood the test of time.  Instead of working together towards a common resolution, you intentionally criticized in a manner which was a deliberate attempt to shatter my spirits.  What you didn’t know is my resilience and willingness to learn is my hidden super power.

My position demands a delicate balance of accuracy, attention to detail and meeting time-sensitive deadlines.  I felt your criticism was grossly misplaced and if you could have taken time to question and learn why I do specific tasks in my own way.  If you took time to understand my way of completing tasks, you may have learned there is a valid reason for my creating redundancy on spreadsheets and not trusting the current software applications exclusively.  With almost every leadership change, software applications and systems changed in the hopes to bring the organization more current and leaving a lasting legacy of change.  

I request everything a minimum of one day prior to definitive deadline from supervisors.  This extra padding of time gives me a day’s cure period should we encounter technology connectivity issues or end user delays.  This extra day provides a much-needed buffer between supervisors and the actual deadline outlined by the software training manual.  What you failed to consider; I remain a one-person department head supporting over 100 supervisors.  Each one demands my immediate attention and I treat them as my only priority.  Whether they blow-up either my office and cell phone, e-mail or drop in to my office as the deadline date nears, I treat each supervisor as they are my only one demanding my time.  

I digress, I learned my self-created system provided me an independent double check to ensure my transmission file is accurate as possible prior to clicking the proverbial “submit” and “send” icons.  There are specific organizational nuisances which are often not able to be validated but through the old and tried ways despite advances in software applications.  If we had a conversation of cooperation to start with as opposed to you confronting me with disapproval, I believe my respect for you would have been greater from the start.
 

Throughout our time working together, I observed a lack of genuine connection and support, which has made it challenging to thrive in my role.  Despite my efforts to explain my approaches and reasoning behind certain decisions, there seemed to be a lack of willingness to understand and support my perspective.  While our professional relationship may not have been what I had envisioned, I do appreciate the opportunity to have been a part of the team during your brief time here.  Every experience, even the challenging ones, offered valuable lessons that became part of my journey.  I valued the opportunity to have worked with you.  Your leadership style challenged me to adapt and find alternative approaches to navigate through challenges, even in the absence of direct support or understanding.  It is my hope it taught you to not just listen but hear what long withstanding employees who have been through many seasons of change and challenges.  These practices taught us to find ways to be consistent in our jobs as we faced adversity and different expectations from each leadership change.

I believe you were not a bad boss, you were just lacking the skills and knowledge in leading a diverse seasoned team.  You barely made it past introducing yourself to your team when you stormed in telling us how you expect to implement change with a quick turnover.  You demanded to bring changes in the way we do business by implementing changes without grasping a full understanding the of the current situation’s why’s.  I believe it only validated your desire to leave your footprint before you established yourself as a leader.  Instead, it earned you much distrust and lack of cooperation amongst not just your team but created chaos which rippled down to the end users who depend upon our services the most.  I believe with time; you will gain the skills to balance both leading a diverse team and leaving your own legacy.

Although our approaches often clashed, I value the lessons I gained from working with you.  Your leadership style challenged me to adapt and find new ways to navigate obstacles.  I hope it also taught you to listen deeply to long-standing employees who have weathered many seasons of change.  These experiences remind us that consistency and empathy are the foundations of lasting success.  I sincerely hope that you find success and fulfillment in your future endeavors.  May you learn to lead with authenticity, empathy and creating a positive impact wherever career takes you.  It is then you will realize dinosaurs don’t die and become extinct nor do mules need motivation to work hard, both intrinsically survived.  As proof, both seasoned employees survived through change and most importantly it’s the only consistent constant in their careers.