The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
So I will not kid you, hearing my manager, Kathryn, say that life for two weeks was hell without me gave me a rush. I'm just admitting it...in this regard I guess I'm a little shallow.
Oh, she didn't really mean it was hell. Not literally of course. Nobody was hurt or maimed. There was no weeping, wailing or nashing of teeth. Things just evidently weren't the same. I was surprised as I didn't think it would be a blip on the screen that I was gone, especially since I had organized my work well and dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" on all my stuff before I left. What was there to do? What was there to miss? I took care of it all before I left.
I was away for two weeks on my family vacation ~ away from both the church, and my career coaching job. Tuesday evenings is my weekly one on one call with Kathryn, who lives in San Francisco. So I got on the phone for our first weekly call after getting back from vaca and these were the first words out of her mouth: "The last two weeks have been hell without you! I am so glad to have my Deanna back'! I kept saying, where oh where is my Deanna and when is she coming back? I could hardly wait!" At first I thought she was kidding or at least being overly melodramatic and said, "no really," and she said, "I'm serious!"
Nothing was wrong. The company is not falling apart. On the contrary it's growing by leaps and bounds, a place with amazing people. There were no crisis the last two weeks. Kathryn was simply saying it wasn't the same without me and she hated the fact that I was absent.
I know it might seem vain, but it was just nice to hear in her own way of saying it that I am valued. It feels good to be needed although I'm glad nobody was seriously going through hell.
Kathryn is an amazing leader who has taught me so much. Working under her has impacted me a lot already in how I lead in the church. Although she is not a believer (yet!) she has taught me some things to help me be a better church leader that I might never have learned otherwise.
In career coaching we share the statistic that 75% of all hires are ultimately made because of chemistry. It's interesting how that works. The most qualified candidate may not always get the job. Most times it's the person who clicks best relationally with the interviewer. It's not so odd -- people's happiness at work is very much tied to being happy with the people they work with or for. All that to say...the chemistry with Kathryn is great and I'm thankful for that. I think if she had the choice she'd hire me again. :)
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I can't wait to start my job tomorrow...