Bertier was faced with this harsh reality in a time when race mattered, but I still think it is something most leaders struggle with. Leading is hard, it takes a certain amount of discipline, self-sacrifice, determination and down right skill; all of which need to be carefully balanced and mixed together to fit whatever situation you are faced with. But I think most leaders are faced with the attitude that Big Ju displayed: “I’m supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team? Nah, nah what I’m gonna do is look out for myself and I’ma get mine.” – Remember the Titans (2000) In most sports films there is some sort of scene about bringing the team together in some epic moment of unifying need but without that moment how do you unite a group that by nature is built to be extremely varied and diverse? The answer is easy to say but very difficult to live day in and day out. Working in any customer service environment is a whole lot like playing on a team, and one of the main reasons why is because working with the general public is one of the most disparaging experiences you will ever find. So you need your team for your sanity. But what do you do when your team is contributing to your insanity?
This is the question that I have been struggling with semi-recently, and honestly I still wonder daily how much more I can take. When I was growing up my father would tell us that it would never take much effort on our part to stand out in a crowd. This is something that still makes me giggle when I think about it, probably one of the most honest and simple truths he imparted to us. But the reality is that you don’t have to try hard to be more than mediocre and get noticed for the work that you do, getting noticed is the easy part, get appreciated? Well that is a horse of a different color entirely.
Like I said leadership is hard, it takes diligence, perseverance, patience, kindness, selflessness, tenacity, discipline, consistency, indifference and a whole host of other characteristics. Some people are born leaders and some are cultivated and pruned through training. But what do you do when your leadership let’s you down? When you have a team that can’t come together and work as a unit? When you have a dynamic that is so utterly dysfunctional it barely survives? What do you do when you can’t help but see the inevitable doom that lies in wait for the team that cannot be a team? I’d like to think you walk away or you step up. But there are a few problems I find myself faced with when choosing either option. First one is that no work environment is flawless, and whereas I know this to be true I’ve certainly been in situations that have worked far better and with a whole lot less drama. Which means that moving on is the one to choose. Second is that I have not been at my current location for a year yet and let’s face it leaving in less than that amount of time shows a whole lot of lack of commitment on my part, therefore option two to stay is what is the wiser of the two. Third issue I notice is that the leadership is faulty in more ways than one, biggest being it doesn’t lead, learn, nor listen; therefore leaving is the way to go. Next issue I run into is my own natural bitterness toward mediocrity, no one wants to be around a sour puss and the parallel is true in the work force, no one wants to hire a bitter bitty.
So what do you do when you feel your attitude reflecting your leadership and you don’t like that reflection? What do you do when your our tenacity and stubbornness isn’t helping you be you? What do you do when you can’t decide what is the right answer? Sometimes the only answer is to wait to decide, but in essence waiting is making a decision with passive latent conviction that you incredibly unsure of. Maybe the answer is that when it comes to being an adult and living with the choices that you made you do what you have to until you can do what you want. So you stick with the job that you love at the place that you don’t enjoy till you can work less and be free to volunteer more and take a job that pays less monetarily but means more to you. Maybe you just keep plugging away because you can see the progress you have made and that makes you proud of who you are. Maybe you slowly move on and up because life is change and change is fun. Perhaps when your leadership fails to lead you lead yourself and you be the person you can respect even when you don’t think that you can.
