Lessons: Self Advocacy in the Workplace

I’m learning so much. The most valuable lesson I’ve learned so far is self advocacy in order to promote balance. OLG taught me that.

Early in my career, I was a yes man. I said yes to just about every request in order to please others. Needless to say, it led to many years of hard work and beautiful relationships built in the process. Relationships with the school, the community, and all the people in between. It also led to burnout in my early years, and I almost left the school (and teaching), until I learned how to manage my time effectively and efficiently in order to promote balance. Still, I over extended myself well into my OLG days until I grew resentful, quantifying how much people worked and comparing what I did to what others did. Toxic.

I learned that it shouldn’t matter how much others did, as long as they were doing their job. If I was doing all this extra stuff, it was by my own devices.

Here in my new position, I’m entering with a proactive philosophy. The first thing I needed was a well defined role, particularly in the boarding house, which wasn’t the case when I got here. So I defined my own role, based on what others said happened in the past. I designed my own job description after I got hired, adding a few responsibilities to how my current job was done previously. After all, I’m about pushing status quo. After defining my role, I made sure I wasn’t off base by sharing it with the Head of School, my direct boss. Now, myself and my co-workers are working out some kinks, but I’m confident that we can put structures in place to ensure that we are working a fair schedule.

Because I was working 24/7 for the last several days. Literally. And that is not what I signed up for, and that is not healthy for anyone. I got physically sick as a result. So, I had to advocate for myself.

Now here’s the growing point. Old Jace would have just rolled over and accepted this busy way of life as my new way of life. But now, I laid out my terms, and I believe they are reasonable. More than reasonable. That point of reason is where I can sustain my work as written and extend myself if needed. But when work pushes me past my threshold of happiness and passion – which is a pretty far threshold for me – then I know it is no longer a viable position for me. It robs me of life instead of gives me life. That was always a fine line I danced with at OLG, but as I grew closer to the community, I found that line being drawn further and further into the distance because I loved the people.

So, my lovelies, the point is about work. Good workers go beyond the minimum for sure, but the ones who last will be those who can advocate for themselves.

Aloha,

JC