I'm all made of hinges

Today I was reminded of some advice I received from a previous boss. She was a pretty tough as nails woman who took no excuses, fought for her success, and in general was sometimes abrasive but a person I looked to for guidance in the trying times at work. We had our fair shares of issues at work, managing tour guides, elementary age children and their teachers is not an easy feat let me tell you. Coupled with navigating through the murky waters of a university and the aftermath of the previous individuals did not make the going any easier. On the second or third day of our time in the newly furnished (with hand me down equipment because let's face it budgets don't allow for new furniture) she handed me a little Gumby figurine she'd gotten me. Now I will say I have seen some of the cartoons with the little green guy, but I wasn't a huge fan of the show so I never watched it much but I was quite familiar with Gumby and what was most likely her intentions behind giving me the figure. 

Sure enough came the advice about being flexible in work and understanding how to handle changing gears quickly. At the time I was about 25-26 years old and had managed a few things before, but never really on the level I was looking at with the new position I was moving into for the exhibit. I took her advice then with a grain of salt and moved forward with the other plans and work we had laid out before us to prepare for our opening. Somewhere along the way I lost my Gumby and as things piled on to the other I forgot about the advice of being flexible, not because I was inflexible in my view or my work, just something I had long filed away as something to remember later down the line.

I was reminded of her advice to me those number of years ago. She was right, sometimes we have to be willing to change direction at the drop of a hat and sometimes like Gumby we are stretched a little thin as supervisors and managers. Sometimes we can pull ourselves back together with little assistance, but sometimes we need that extra hand because we forgot our own limits. 

But I've also learned over the course of my time as a supervisor I'm a little bit like a hinge as well. Sometimes I have to bend my plans and schedule around the needs of the day rather than being so rigid. My crystal ball only works great on the past, never the future as my dad used to say to us. I cannot always seen the problems as they come up, but what I know I can do is learn how to bend my needs and wants to match up with the needs and wants of those whom I'm serving. I don't mean a compromise of standards and morals, I'm talking being able to meet someone half way and help when needed and bending to allow the time needed for learning, growing, and developing as a team member. I think as a supervisor those are the hardest lessons to learn. The lessons of how to balance and meet the needs of others, while still making sure you don't walk out of the door every night a zombie because you forgot to take care of yourself. I'm still learning, still making the mistakes, and becoming a better supervisor in the end for the lessons I'm learning in being flexible and willing to bend my own ideas to help incorporate those of others.