Tonight I am grateful for the thoughtful consideration of my coworkers. This morning at our weekly staff meeting, we jumped into some challenging discussions around our unit strategic plan, changes we are making to the budget structure, and in general adjustments we’re making in the way we do business–both internally and externally. Even before the meeting started, I confessed to those assembled that my stomach was knotted up from nerves. “I’m not sure what all is going on,” I admitted, “but I definitely want to bring calm energy into the room, so I’m going to take some deep breaths and settle myself down.” Eventually I did relax enough for my stomach to settle, but at various points throughout the meeting I know the tension in the room was heightened. In spite of these occasional speed bumps in the conversation, we eventually got into a rhythm and made progress toward accomplishing our objective though we did not finish.
Then, one of my colleagues shifted the focus of the meeting to cover what she indicated was another piece of business. She’d previously mentioned to me that she was going to need about 30 minutes at the end of the meeting when we’d set the agenda, so although I was anxious to continue working on the plan, we shifted gears. I knew about 30 seconds into her speaking that I was in trouble–good trouble. You see, my colleagues had nominated me for an outstanding supervisor award–an annual award given by the staff senate of the university. Although I did not win the award, the staff created, signed, and presented me with their own outstanding supervisor award certificate. They also shared with me the nomination letter and form they’d submitted to the committee, gave me a lovely gift, and topped it all off with a celebratory apple pie (a nice touch that someone remembered that I prefer pie to cake.)
It doesn’t often happen that I am caught completely off guard and at a near total loss of words, but that moment in this morning’s meeting was one of those rare times. One of my colleagues read the letter sent to the nominating committee and it was all I could do to sit still and listen. “Take it in,” she smiled at my misty-eyed, squirming discomfiture. I looked around the room at the team–seven terrific individuals (the eighth member of our team was out sick)–and did my best to take it all in: their smiling faces and encouraging nods. This was for me.
I don’t often get fussed over like I did today; and when I do, I tend to deflect it and divert the attention away from myself. I tried that once or twice this morning and one of my colleagues called me out on it, basically telling me (nicely) to stop it. So I did. At one point someone thanked me for “putting up with” them over this last year; and while I’ve had an occasional issue here and there with one person or another, those times have been rare. And far from feeling like I am putting up with them, I’m grateful to be working with them: they are hardworking, dedicated to and passionate about their work, and yes occasionally quirky and often funny, individuals. If I’ve done one thing well it has been getting them to believe great things about themselves and about each other and attempting to help forge eight creative, capable individuals into a cohesive team. They continue to be the primary reason I am excited to go to work every day, even on those days when I don’t feel like being there, and why I strive to do my best each day.
I am grateful for each individual who works together with me in our office. Over a year ago when I sat down to think about what type of place I wanted to work next, I spent a great deal of time thinking about the type of people I wanted to work with and for and the type of environment I wanted to work in. While my current situation is not perfect in some respects, in this one thing it’s pretty close: I work with some really good people. And for that I am exceedingly grateful.
