Productive Day

First day back from the holidays... I was so very tired today. I just wanted to go home and take a nap. Stayed up too late last night as I watched the movie (which I was tired before the movie even started). I was tempted to use one of my vacation days for Friday. However, I worked 4 more hours today than I was planning, so I will work less tomorrow. One of the perks of having a flexible schedule.

I spent a lot of time preparing for today's meeting I called for with my employees. I was not looking forward to it; it had potential to be such a big mess. The purpose of the meeting was to re-iterate their duties to get them back on the right track because council and the schools have been sharing with me those concerns. There are about 20 people on my staff including a coordinator who I am training to take more responsibility, a lot of different ages (but mostly teens still in high school), so the crowd is diverse. I understand it is just a part-time job for them and it may not be something they do for very long-time. I understand that it is not an easy job for a young kid to be telling people 2 or 3 times their age to follow the rules, but I believe that if play the cards the right way as a supervisor, any job can be fun or at least a good experience for them. I want to be able to help them become productive members in the workforce (whether for me or anyone else). As corny as it all may sound, one of the roles as a supervisor (I believe) is to educate them. The same holds true for any type of meeting, training or presentation. I am not at that point right now with my staff loving their job, nor am I at that point where I am the most effective superviosr but I feel I have made some really boring presentation subjects a lot of fun in the course of my public speaking “career”.
I spent a lot of time today talking with my new, young coordinator. I shared my philosophies and what I have been taught about trainings as well as got a glimpse to where he was coming from. With him being new (started Oct 31) in a position designed to be a stepping stone for organization, it was positive conversation. He also shared with me what my staff has been saying about me behind my back.
Unfortunately, whay he said made me feel like the supervisor from “The Office” (okay, I admit it! I have related to "Micheal Scott" from the Office before my conversation). He said they think it is annoying that I just pop-up when they least expect it and that I would be too hands on with the job. But that’s okay, I need to be available and check in on my staff. I practice what I preach and will enforce the rules that I expect them to be paid for, if they don't know when I am going to be dropping by, then hopefully it would keep them on their toes. I cannot be effective if I am not around and being passive. If everyone was being pro-active and taking the initiative, then there be a need for this meeting.
The meeting went well, better than I anticipated. The staff was receptive and they shared ideas and participated. It felt like it accomplished the objective. There was no finger-pointing or blaming. There are things that I could have said better and other things that I would do differently next time, but I felt good about the meeting. I tend to talk like Bush sometimes, words come out in not-so-ordinary ways just to get the point across, (Bushism- I think it is called). I was relieved that it is over and I felt more satisfied with this meeting than some of those in the past.
Now I am looking forward to a quiet, calm Friday and then a weekend featuring a big party at a friend’s townhouse over looking the Inner Harbor in Baltimore City.