Sophie in Charge

 

      I volunteer in church every other Wednesday night. Our group of volunteers has a leader who supervises us in what we are to do. She writes a schedule, meets with us before we start our work  and checks up on us to see how things are going as we are going about our duties. 

   Last fall I was asked to assist our leader. My job is to help her in any way she needs and to fill in for her when she is out of town.

   Last Wednesday she was out of town. That meant I was going to be in charge. Two weeks ago she had shown me all I needed to know about writing and printing the schedule. I took notes as she showed me what to do. I had worked with her for several months so I knew what she did during our shift.

   Now it was time to put those things in to practice. Writing and printing the schedule was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be. I had three women who were going to be absent. One of them found sub and I was grateful for that. 

   The shift went well. There were a few last minute schedule changes which is common. The women I volunteer with are all experienced so there was no need for me to tell them what or how to do things.

   At the toward the end of the shift, I had a conversation with James. He was also volunteering that evening. He asked me how I liked being the leader. I told him I was an assistant and was only filling in that evening. I said between being the assistant and being a counselor in Relief Society I had more leadership type roles than I really want. Obviously, I said, someone did not get the memo that I'm not a leader.

   James chuckled quietly. "Oh, but you are", he said, "and people are following." I made a small  dismissive comment and the conversation ended.

   However I  haven't stopped thinking about what he said. I've had experience in management and leadership roles professionally and all those experiences were horrible. The lesson that I learned was that I am not a good leader. I'm an excellent support person for a leader. I am best as part of a team working together. 

   Yet lately I'm finding myself in these positions where I'm taking on leadership duties...... I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand I've been told that we should always improve our weak spots. On the other hand I also feel that we should use our skills and talents and that we don't need to be skilled at everything.

   The best route for me to take is to continue what I'm doing to the best of my ability..... and to see what the future brings.....