“Good leaders use the tools they have to take care of their people. And they persist… until the job is done.” -Me
During my time as Chief Psychologist, I was given the feedback “you are so persistent” or “you just never gave up on that” or “wow, I didn’t ever think that would be resolved but you made it happen”…. and the one I appreciated the most: “thank you for doing everything you could to help me and make it right. You have no idea what that means to me.”
I learned early on that I needed a folder in my Outlook called “Things to Follow Up On.” I would send an email to try to help resolve a situation or problem, and then I would immediately move that Sent email into this folder. I checked the folder about twice a week, and when I would notice that it had been 3-5 days (or a week? whatever seemed appropriate) since not receiving a response, I would send a follow up email. This was one of my many strategies for ‘taking care of business’ in a work world that has so many excessive and unnecessary barriers to progress. It’s the government…. embrace the suck and find a way to work around it.
I’m just a worker bee now. A psychologist seeing patients, providing the best mental health treatment I can, and… well, I guess I could still say, “taking care of business.” Just serving a different population… Veterans instead of Employees.
I am currently serving on a committee that is designed to provide feedback to leadership about what employees need, want, and see as problems within the organization. The process is a very good one while the reality is that many leaders tend to “pencil whip it” (a term I was introduced to in the military). They (and we; I’m guilty of it too) just throw together a response or sign off on something that they don’t really review, understand, or take stock in. As a former boss used to say, we “drink from a fire hose,” which means they don’t pay attention to some of the things that could, actually, reduce some of the fires they deal with everyday. I totally get it, and I empathize… I lived it.
Too often we hear, “we can’t do that because….” (insert some historical event/process/former leader’s practice). Challenging the status quo is probably one of my strengths. Sometimes strengths can get us in trouble, but I just can’t help myself from asking, “but Why?” If the answer is “because it’s always been done this way” or “the committee has always denied that.” My response is: maybe we need to take a look at how the system is set up; let’s take a look at the policy, the regulation, or the directive, or (at the very least) what’s the right thing to do.
Great leaders have empathy. And persistence. Maybe even to a fault? I don’t know? where do we draw the line in being “too much” or to “know our place”? The line for this old girl just keeps moving in the direction of taking care of business for the people. Because those people are taking care of the people who matter most: the Veterans.
Persistence eventually pays off…. never give up. And get the job done.
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