Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Filling in the gaps

There have been massive gaps in my blog lately. If I ever had any regular readers they have surely all disappeared by now. But I feel the urge to write anyway. Most days I really like my job- but only after 8:30 and a cup of coffee (mornings are bad). Monday mornings seem to be the worst, it never fails that something goes terribly wrong nearly every Monday morning. This monday I found out that a project I thought was being printed never got to the printer, but not my fault. Several weeks ago, on Monday, I discovered that my access to updating the website disappeared because they migrated the server over the weekend. Luckily this is a Wednesday morning and not prone to as many disasters.
I have discovered I am both a gatekeeper and a bridge in my job. I am a gatekeeper when people want projects completed that other departments (like information systems or marketing) don't have time to complete them. Also, everything (supposedly) that goes to the "public" from the seminary should go through me.
And I'm bridge in lots of places. I connect churches to the seminary. I connect departments with each other. I connect alumni with the seminary. In my very presence I connect students with staff (since i was a student I get the chance to do this in ways that others don't). I like being a bridge.
I hate being a gatekeeper, but I am now actually getting good at it (scary). I've always hated saying "no," but somehow I've gotten better at it. It's particularly easy when I am really saying no for someone else. Like, "No, we cannot put that application online, because Information Systems is swamped."
I have also discovered I intuitively know how to read people and respond to them. This must have something to do with the seminary training and the rhetoric. For example, how did I know that Brandon's bosses would like his proposal for an internet manager position if we could find a way to make it organized and detailed? It's scary sometimes. I don't spend lots of time analyzing the people that are closest to me (so you can stop worrying) but it feels like an invasion of privacy sometimes.
Okay, this blog is getting random and a little frightening, so I'm going to let it go.
I'm glad Christmas break is coming (I get a whole week off between Christmas and New Years- yay!) Hope to see many of you then.

3 Comments:

At 9:57 PM, Blogger Kari said...

You haven't lost all your readers...I'm just happy to have something new to read. See you very soon!

 
At 9:17 PM, Blogger amylea said...

Readers? Audience? Huh?
The thought of being a bridge makes my back ache. Too many people crossing you...
Insert witty pun?

 
At 12:30 PM, Blogger Joanne Lehman said...

I am comforted to know that you are messy. Actually, your membership in the messy org. was never questioned by me--after all, it sometimes went months until I again could see the carpet on your bedroom floor!!

For a more high-level treatment of the theme of my Other Arrangements piece, a friend sent a quote from an interview about Thomas Merton who "...gave witness to the ultimate irrelevancy of our failures and short comings when we live in the radical confidence of God's love for us--which implies the moral imperative of doing your honest best to work on those things" I think "those things" refers to the messies, so keep trying to straighten up that desk and God's gonna love you for it. Lofty Thoughts (Lou's Mom)

 

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