Last November I was interviewed for a job as the "Chief Program Officer" at Patrick Henry Family Services. I was told that I would be supervising three people, one of whom I would be hiring once I arrived. I would be doing some of the things that I enjoy most -- vision casting, overall leadership, big picture decision making -- and I would only have three direct reports and an admin.
My first official day of work was January 4 and by the 11th I knew that I was not replacing the Director of Residential Care position any time soon. The system I inherited (as you will recall from my posts back in January and February) was dysfunctional and bringing someone into that would be setting them up to fail. So I started digging in and figuring out how to "fix" things.
My second month we had to part ways with the Director of our Counseling program and so then I was doing his job as well. It took until July 1 to find a good replacement for him -- and we REALLY did. In just two months that program has made great progress.
In the meantime, we had our ups and downs in Residential Care, and without going into detail, by August 11th the managers had quit and almost 20 people were reporting directly to me. To say I was drowning was a bit of an understatement AND I was supposed to go on vacation.
But today I am here to report that yesterday was the first day for our new Director of Residential Care. Since our program is changing a bit and that title has been jinxed, I changed it to Director of Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes. She is a former coworker at Bethany and a spiritually strong, very experienced, all around awesome person.
So yesterday I led my last meetings as "Director of Residential Care." It was a bittersweet time because I have grown to love that team and we have gotten very close as we have gone through all these valleys together.
The spirit in the room was SO different that our first meeting back in January. That meeting everyone looked scared to death -- scared of me, scared of the future, scared of change. Even though you know I'm hilarious, I don't remember anyone laughing at my jokes.
Yesterday I got to witness the change in the staff as my people laughed and joked and carried on. I watched how engaged they were and how committed they are to the children and teenagers we served. I was happy to pass on my people to Mary Beth and allow them to become "her people", actually "our people."
So, today I start my new job as ONLY the Chief Program Officer and nothing else and I couldn't be more thrilled with the possibilities of the future. We are heading in a great direction.
If you are in the middle of tough time I want to assure you that there is light at the end of the tunnel. God is with us through every dark time and He will bring us through.
This song is so new that there is only one YouTube out there -- but it's a great one!
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