From that description, it is clear why this camp has had so many troubles in the past. Abusing the freedom would be easy. But luckily for me and for the Board, I am passionate and committed and I don't abuse the freedom. In my opinion, everyone is winning in this scenario. Camp is succeeding, the Board doesn't have to worry or put much effort into things and I have my dream job!
The President of the Board (Pres) is a wonderfully kind, supportive man. He runs a major bank. He has two personal assistants (one of which is also on the Board). The last time I went to his office, one of the assistants brought us drinks in the conference room. She brought him a Diet Pepsi. He'd asked for a Diet Coke. When she told him that the company fridge didn't have any, he reminded her there was a machine downstairs. She took away the Pepsi and returned a few minutes later with Coke.
Pres wasn't demanding or condescending and his assistant didn't seem upset. In my line of work, we carry our own plastic water bottles and if beverages are available at meetings, they are set out at a table and you get whatever is there. But that's the way it is with him, probably not just at the office, but in life.
The first year and a half or so of working at camp, Pres drove me insane. I wasn't used to working for someone who is used to being waited on, doted on and the center of the universe. As I said before, I have almost complete freedom with most of camp (programming, staffing, etc), but anything involving the Board, Board members or organization policy has to involve him.
I learned quickly that if I need his participation in something, it's not as easy as making a proposal and him approving it. What needs to happen is this: propose the idea somewhere between 3-6 times, including all details, written documentation, etc. He will appear to listen but he won't take in anything I am saying until the 5th or 6th time it comes up, at which point, he will "have an idea" and will repeat (usually verbatim) what I have been talking to him about as if the idea just came to him out of the blue.
This process drives Business Manager J INSANE. She hates that he doesn't listen in the first place and tries to point out that it's not his idea and we already talked to him about it a million times. And then when he doesn't acknowledge that, she gets even more enraged. It used to drive me crazy too. I felt invisible, unappreciated and disrespected as a human being. I felt outraged and wasn't sure I could work in such an unacceptable environment.
And then I stepped back and looked at my job overall. And I realized 98% of the time in my job, I am completely on my own doing whatever I want and LOVING every minute of it. 1% of my job is me reporting what I am doing to the Board and them telling me I'm awesome and to keep doing whatever I want to do. And 1% is annoying and frustrating.
Every job has positive and negative and the best you can do is find a job where the ratio of good is greater than bad. I'm not going to do better than 99% good.
And so instead of feeling outraged or offended by Pres, I decided to work with my situation. I repeat whatever it is I need from him the required 3-6 times and then when he repeats it back to me, I respond with, "that is a great idea! We will get to work on this right away!" He's happy, I get what I want and life is good. It's called "playing the game".
Even more frustrating to J than Pres not listening to her is the fact that I play this game with him and give him all the credit. She wants me to go back to being outraged, fight him, and spend hours ranting and raving about the injustice of women being looked down on and not acknowledged and blah blah blah...
Yesterday at our Board meeting this happened with something so inconsequential to my life, I can't even remember. This morning, I called to let J know I would be working from home because I was feeling sick, she started ranting and raving and going on about how upset she's been since yesterday and how disrespected she feels and how she doesn't understand why he doesn't notice how capable and qualified we are.
It was 10:15am and I was wearing sweatpants on my couch, drinking coffee at leisure while checking my email. I was having a difficult time agreeing with her argument against the working conditions of the organization.
Yes, I am a proud, strong woman who expects to have my opinions heard and matter. But this man is SUPER nice, compliments us constantly on what a great job we are doing and backs up his words by giving me complete control and freedom, expressing his trust and respect with his actions, not just words. Yes, he's sort of oblivious and self centered sometimes. No, I couldn't work with him on a regular basis. But he isn't that way on purpose and I know he isn't going to change. "Playing the game" doesn't mean that I'm not standing up for myself or that I'm compromising my self worth. In playing, it is important to know when to rely on strength and when it is better to use strategy.
Thus far, being strategic has made it possible to use my couch for an office. If there were points awarded in the game of life, I would clearly be ahead...
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