Attitude Adjustment Needed?

[CuriousQDe]

I love my work. I do it well, and God has blessed my work. I work for a very small nonprofit, 14 people comprise the HQ staff and I am a mid-level manager.

Because I was given a lot of responsibility, the accomplishments I have made have garnered a lot of attention, especially among the 23 board members. This is not necessarily a blessing, because the level of politics and making mountains out of moehills is choking the life out of me.

I now spend as much time putting out political fires as I do putting out my work. It is exhausting and no longer worth it.

I know this is part and parcel of work, but here are a few examples for which my wrists have been slapped in long meetings before the board:

--high school student is wearing a t-shirt instead of a suit in a picture that was published
--first ever video put out by the organization on New Year's Eve was circulated to everyone on the board, except one who was unavailable, and she felt we should have waited for her to come back Jan. 5--it was an end-of-year message
--My boss received an award in September, and I put the news on our website, the board president makes me take it down because an award he received in May (before I was here) was never put on the site
--Working with a board member on a campaign that was completed in October but didnt get released until mid-December because after circulating through all 23 board members, this board member decides his wife should have the final say and I would just have to wait


My spirit is broken and I just no longer care. This has happened to me before. I go hard on my work, and I put a lot of earnest effort into it. Then when other people come in with their pettiness, it takes all of the care of out of me. And it seems like nothing makes me care again once I stop. All I want to do is my work.

And yes, I have had numerous discussions with my boss about this, and everyone's hand is tied because ultimately, this board has control over everything. My boss's contract is about to be renewed and he's not making waves. It seems in the interest of their own personal glory, they find micromanaging our work to be the best thing since sliced bread.

I do not want to leave another job over politics, but my mind is so far gone from this place that it feels inevitable. What besides prayer helps me renew my commitment to work? How do you deal with selfish, self-aggrandizing people in positions of authority to you?

 

[Ret]

Hi CQD...If you want to salvage your job where you are, reassess your ability to be a team player and see if that helps. Consider taking a lesser position (even if it pays less) where politics is less likely to affect your every day work. Find out if others consider you to be 'bossy' or 'arrogant'...or take a 'month' off (if that's possible) and give yourself some time to recollect your thoughts and decide what is the next step! Though, likely you have already thought of all these things, and...

Beyond all that, YES...prayer is the best answer...but like Job, pray for those who cast reproach upon your work and God will bless both them and you!

Peace and Blessings...Ret

 

[CuriousQDe]

Let me apologize for coming back so long after I posted. Blame it on work. ;)

And thank you for responding. I do hear what you are saying, and I asked a couple friends who made the exact same point, that I don't want to be told what to do and that sometimes the stress isn't worth the position. So I've officially been checked and know that yes indeed I need an attitude adjustment.

Let me tell some things that have happened since. Three people have quit on the spot. No notice and none of them were in management positions. It may feel like an exaggeration but in an organization so small it is impossible for everyone not to be involved in the politics, especially when any and all 23 board members can call and put a mountain of work on your lap and no one can do anything about it.

I made the cataclysmic mistake of skipping church once just to try and close out a project. Well, it has happened almost every weekend since that I spend my entire weekends at work, and I mean sun up to well into the night. That is just wrong on all counts and for it not to matter at all HURTS. Because there still has never been day that a mistake I make or anybody else makes when we don't get publicly humiliated for it.

What has really made this more clear cut is the number of calls I get after midnight weeknights and my weekends about work. We are not operating a newspaper press, so I knew things were at the point of no return when I started likening my job to a rabid dog that is attacking me. Nothing short of shooting it in the head would make it stop.

So said so done. I handed in my resignation--without a job lined up and I can only describe the workload that was visited upon me in that time as avalanche. They tried to squeeze the blood out of me. And like the others before me I just decided one day it was enough. Everyone said don't do it, the final few days wouldn't kill me, but my body said not another day. I called up my boss and said I was done. Now true to their behavior, they are withholding my final paycheck for reasons they cannot explain to me. I am due more than four weeks vacation and I might have to get a lawyer involved. They are already in court with a former employee.

But an interesting thing happened, I lost 12 pounds within three days of handing in my resignation. 12 pounds! I cannot begin to describe how my face has cleared up...my body instantly responded to the feeling of less stress.

I know I am probably too confident about my work and a know-it-all, but with 100% turnover in two years, this was also an objectively bad place to work.

And by the grace of God, I did get another offer before I left and am squeezing in time to just relax. I realize that in my time at this last job, I took only two personal days and two half-days when I was forced to leave because I was sick as a dog. I didn't even realize this until very recently because I really didn't do anything but work.