Christmas was wonderful, and my mother loved her gift. Well, she will when she finally sits down to read it. She's not a woman who sits around a whole bunch.
It was lovely to have a break for Christmas and New Years, and even though I love my job, it was with dread that I set my alarm for way too early on the morning of the 4th. I tend to slide very quickly into night owl habits, given the opportunity, and then it's difficult to sort out my sleeping schedule so that I arrive at work with my brain cells firing on any cylinders at all.
I had an interesting conversation with my boss last week. I had to ask him a question about something that fell under his purview as principal and it led to a thorough explanation on his part as to why he has treated me as he has since I have been hired, which is very well. He has always (as have all the faculty) treated me with kindness and respect. Griff treats me like an adult and has never tried to micro-manage me. All of the faculty have always expressed gratitude for everything that I try to do to support them in their jobs as teachers, even for little things like making photocopies. That has sometimes baffled me, as I don't feel I have done anything extraordinary. I am, after all, just fulfilling my job description. Still, it's very nice to feel appreciated.
Because no one gossips or speaks poorly of anyone else who has ever worked in the seminary building, I had no idea of what had gone on with the previous administrative assistant except for some hints I gleaned from some non-critical passing comments. What a blessing to work in a place where backbiting is not a thing! I had, however, worried that I wasn't doing enough because I didn't know what to compare my performance to.
The previous assistant is a very nice woman (I met her when she trained me), but Griff explained that as systems and procedures changed over the years, she had failed (refused) to learn the new ways of doing things and had relied more and more on the faculty to either help her or do it for her. Though her job was to support the faculty so they could do their jobs as teachers, it ended up with the faculty having to shoulder more and more of the burden of her job. Griff felt that previous principals and faculty bore some of the responsibility for that as they had been too willing to step in, and that had made it too easy for the previous assistant to not have to learn what she needed to. Therefore, explained Griff, he had made a conscious effort as the new principal to back off and let me be completely autonomous in my job so that I would figure it out and not feel that I had to (or could) rely on him or others to do the job correctly.
It worked. The result has been that I feel empowered to make a few mistakes because Griff has never been breathing down my neck. When I have questions, I go to my supervisor (the region administrative assistant) or ask other, more experienced, administrative assistants from around the region to give me advice. Every once in a while, I'll ask Neil or Skyler (faculty members) a technical question, and they are happy to show me what to do, but 99% of the time, I try to figure it out without going to them. I have had some quietly hair-raising moments--especially with the budget sheets--that I either figured out myself or went with to my supervisor for help, but I have never asked Griff or any of the faculty to help me on that. It's not their job.
Griff said I am a breath of fresh air. I do everything I can to support the faculty, I'm happy to do it, and I am willing to figure out new solutions when needed. He likes that I often voluntarily attend their faculty meetings so that I know what it is the faculty is trying to do so that I can support them in doing it. I do my job effectively so that he and the faculty can concentrate on their jobs, which is teaching the gospel to teenagers. This explains what I felt was sometimes excessive gratitude for the often simple tasks I do. It also explains why one of the faculty members keeps bringing me my favorite soda. He mentioned once that he never dared ask the previous assistant to make copies. I thought he was joking (he didn't explain further), but Griff confided in me that the previous assistant did not make copies. What a weirdo. Making copies is fun because you get a nice little reward for pushing a few buttons, and as a bonus you get to get out of your chair and walk into another room. It's easy! Not like when it takes you a few hours to realize that there is a mistake in the Excel formula that is causing all your headaches with the budget sheet.
I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. I'm really not. But that conversation was a real boost. There are two unreasonable and unhelpful fundamental beliefs I can't seem to shake that color every decision I make. The first one is that I am wrong. Doesn't matter what it is, I will expect that I am wrong. (I'll talk about the second one another time, but maybe you'll get lucky and I'll forget to bring it up again.)
To find out I am not wrong, that I am, in actual fact, doing most things right (in this job, at least. The rest of my life? Hmmm...) always seems to be a startling and suspect conclusion to come to. But Griff let me feel like I'm not just imagining that I'm doing well, I really am! Bless his cotton socks. For a kid, he is a very good leader. Okay, he's 35. Not a kid. But he's still young to me.
I do enjoy my job. It has easy, simple aspects and it has challenging, mentally stimulating aspects. I get to do a wide variety of tasks in a day, and in those moments when I don't have anything to do, I can study the gospel. I work with the seminary faculty, the students, the students' parents, and some of the administration at the high school, each of which requires a slightly different set of communication skills. I have an entire office with a door! I have a supervisor who is very supportive and helpful so I that don't feel afraid to ask stupid questions. The faculty treats me kindly and with respect and even joke around with me. When I go home, work stays at work. I liked driving a preschool bus, but I absolutely love this job.
#blessed
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