Unhappy & Milkmaid Braid

My summer blogging has been sporadic. I wish I could say that I've been busy with summer fun and adventures with friends- much like last summer. Sadly, that is not the case.

I have been busy with work. Too busy. 

There has been a lot of transition and changes at work. A year ago my team had 5 members, I am now a team of one- plus two summer students, who will both be gone within a week. The students have been a HUGE help- and great source of entertainment.

I have been beyond stressed (and many times frustrated). I've had a lack of support from my supervisors, left on my own to deal with a very unpleasant group of volunteers and was often brushed aside, ignored and belittled. I questioned my role within my organization and even contemplated leaving for a different opportunity that presented it's self. My on mat leave boss was kind enough to chat with me for half an hour and helped bring clarity to the situation. She is now back from leave and I had a meeting with her yesterday, which went well. I still have A LOT of work ahead of me. It won't be fun.

I have also found myself in a very unpleasant situation, I have turned to a number of people for help and they have all failed to step up. I have felt very isolated and alone. I have been feeling a lot of negative things over the past few months. I wasn't my self and that really bothered me. I tried to keep up with blogging and being social, going out with friends and having fun. All band aid solutions that made me happy while doing those activities, but then I would come home or go back to work...and all the negative would return. I miss being happy.

In other news, I may or may not have been binge watching The Anna In Wonderland on youtube. Anna is hilarious and and entertaining. 

Here's her latest video:

Suggestion Box Week 3

I am so incredibly lucky to have two really great students working with me this summer. They are both hard workers, super productive and really nice and really funny girls. There is a lot of laughing in our office, they keep me entertained.

They, jokingly, asked if they could have a suggestion box when they could anonymously leave suggestion on how I can do my job better. Of course, I agreed and told them that we will read the suggestions at our weekly team meeting.

Since I was on vacation for part of last week, it means we had our team meeting mid-week instead of at the beginning of the week. As a result, they only had 2 days to submit suggestions for this week. There were not many, but here are this weeks suggestions:

Student 1 should bring snacks. Pretty self explanatory...but no one knows why this was in the suggestion box. As the supervisor, I`m responsible for bringing snacks.

More espresso beans. This was a repeat from week 1 as I had yet to do it. But when I was on vacation, I was able to find more espresso beans and had them for this weeks meeting!!

Spirit Day Announcement: Friday August 15 is Pink Day! Wooo! I guess they thought it would be a good idea to have spirit day, so we are all going to wear pink on Friday. This announcement was also shared with the rest of the staff today during our staff meeting.

Get a soul. There is no context for this and it`s kind of funny. It`s written in black marker, instead of the anonymous black pen and the handwriting doesn't match either students or my own. Neither student remembers writing it. So we think this was a suggestion made by the office ghost.

I love going through this suggestions! Sometimes they are helpful but most of the time they are just funny. It's a great way to start our work week by going through them; it's an opportunity to provide feedback, open discussions for feedback and, most importantly, have a good laugh.

Week 1 suggestions can be found here and Week 2 can be found here.

So, You Want To Work For A Non-Profit

I work for a non-profit organization (NPO) and I love it- most of the time. I actually got my start in the corporate world, and while I was making a ton more money, I wasn't feeling rewarded in my work or that I was making a difference or even doing something with my life. So, I made the switch to a NPO.

Since high school, I knew I wanted to work for a NPO and planned my schooling accordingly. I had a ton of volunteer experience, which is what really influenced me to work for a NPO. Through my volunteer work, I was introduced to the thankless grunt work, long hours, fun events and the majority of things associated with this sector...or at least the portion that had to do with fundraising. 

I love my job, the organization I work for, the people I work with, the clients we serve...but it's tough. 

I hear from so many people who say they want to work in the non-profit sector. They have good intentions, wanting to help people and make a difference in the lives of others. A lot of people don't realize how hard it actually is. The end result- seeing how the funds I raise help the people we serve and hearing our clients talk about the difference we made in their lives- is honestly the most rewarding thing for me.

People ask me all the time what it's like to work for a NPO. I'm honest with them and tell them it's not as glamorous and fun as it looks, that's it's tough but rewarding and that you get to do a lot of fun things- like work on tv commercials, insert creativity into events, visit a lot of unique locations, etc. But you have to be really dedicated to your organization and really love what you do.

Here are 6 things I've never told anyone.

1. You don't get paid well. People know this, but they don't know the extreme of this. My current salary, after 5 years in the industry is still less than my starting, just out of school corporate salary. I'm getting paid roughly $20,000-$30,000 less than what I should be.

2. Everything is for the good of the organization. I had a vendor, someone we paid to come in and do work for us, send me an unsolicited email criticizing me, my work, my planning skills and he cc'd everyone in my department, my office (we have multiple locations), my boss, our admin assistant and two people from his company. I did not reply or acknowledge his email. My boss ended up talking to his company and apologizing, saying I was at fault for the email their employee sent. I was told I was not a good representation of our NPO. My boss had no problem throwing me and my reputation under the bus to make the organization look good. 

What promoted the email? He was supposed to be done working on site at 1pm, it was after 4pm (when our office closes), and I asked him how long he'd be onsite so I could find someone who could stay.

3. You work long hours. I worked 13 hours yesterday, will be paid for 7 and I was expected in the office for 8:30 this morning. That was 13 in office hours and does not include any work I did when I got home. I also didn't take a break for lunch or dinner.

4. Volunteers. This is actually a good and bad thing. Some volunteers are amazing. Incredibly dedicated, will do anything to help out, super nice and friendly. I have volunteers that I can't spend enough time with. They are truly, great and amazing people who have added so much to my life. Unfortunately, not all volunteers are like this. 

You work with volunteers on specific projects and they don't realize-and in most cases don't care- that not all of your time can be dedicated to that one project. If you assign something to them, and they don't do it, it's your problem, not theirs. They are unreliable. Just yesterday, I got several nasty emails from a volunteer and was yelled at by another. Guess what? I will be to blame- see point number 2. 

5. The workload is a bit much. You are expected to do work assigned to you/fits your job description, which is consistent with all jobs. NPO's don't have a lot of money and are frequently short staffed. In less than a year, my department went from 5 people to just me...which means I am doing the work of 5 people (being paid a salary for one position, which is underpaid to begin with). This work has to get done and there is no one else to do. So it automatically gets assigned to you.

6. Board Members. This goes hand in hand with number 4, as they are volunteers. Board members are the most dedicated of volunteers and do A LOT of work. I am incredible lucky to work with a really great board, which is not always the case. Board members are, at the end of the day, your boss. But they are not involved with the day to day office operations, so they really have no idea what you do or how hard you work. They see you brought in a $5,000 donation and ask why you couldn't make it $10,000. What they don't know is you had to go through 10 prospects before meeting with the donor (hearing 10 'no' to get to that one 'yes'), you put in 10-15 hours of work on that individual donor and that their original donation was going to be $1,000. 

On top of that, a number of volunteers are family members or friends of the board. If you make a volunteer mad- which is usually disagreeing with them (ex you want to promote an event to sell tickets, they don't want you to promote the event...just magically sell tickets), they have no problem going home and telling their family/friend, who is a board member, about you. Of course, the volunteer leaves out the details about themselves- like them yelling at you or the inappropriate email they sent you. Board member calls your boss the next day and you get blamed...see number 2.

Working in non-profit is not all fun and games. You really have to be dedicated to your organization and really believe in the work they do. You have to be willing to make a lot of sacrifices. You will be overworked, underpaid, stressed out, frustrated and get beaten up mentally and emotionally. It comes with the job. 

There are a lot of good things too about working for a NPO- a post for another time- it's just not as happy-warm-and-fuzzy-feel-good job that most people think it is.

Secret Skillz

Tonight, after work, we are having a board/staff social. My boss asked us all to send her a skill that we have that no one else (on staff) knows about. This will be used for an icebreaker. For the past two weeks, I have been trying to come up with a skill. I have asked my co-workers to help me, I've asked my friends for ideas, I've turned to my family for help. I've come up empty handed.

Now, if this was a 'provide a fun fact about yourself' or 'tell us about a unique experience' or 'unknown personality characteristics' or... I would have a million and one answers. But secret skill? I've got nothing. 

I don't speak another language, play an instrument, starred in a school play. I haven't won awards for a skill, aced a school subject or made a scientific discovery. I can't juggle, whistle or say the alphabet backwards. I don't play air guitar, count by multiple of sevens or paint- pieces of art or walls. 

Here are six of my rejected skill suggestions:

1. Good at getting out of cleaning- suggested by an ex-boyfriend, because when we dated I had a housekeeper, and thus did not have to clean.

2. Recite every line from my favourite movie- I have a number of favourite movies and I can't recite a quote from any of them, never mind every line.

3. Needlepoint- a co-worker mentioned she used to crochet, which inspired this potential skill. In grade 2, we learned to needlepoint for art. This is something I haven't done since grade two, added to the fact that I can't remember anything that I needlepointed or where it now is, it was determined that I can't claim this as a skill.

4. Organization- And then we looked at my office-which gets messier and more disorganized by the day.

5. Knowing people- I know a lot of really interesting, semi-famous people. I was told this is not a skill, just a "fun fact" about me.

6. My toes don't bend- I even demonstrated this...I can kinda wiggle my toes, but they don't bend. I can, however, do this with my toes:

My big tow won't bend like the rest of my toes. A co-worker said this was not a skill, but a deformity. Another friend said it was a disability. A social worker also said it wasn't a skill, but I seemed pretty confident about it and maybe I could still use it. My boss told me to come up with another skill, that I'm better than this.

I have until 3pm to come up with a skill and I've got nothing. Blogging did come up, but I don't think this is something I want all of my co-workers to know about. So, I am skill-less.

Is lack of a skill a skill?

Beyond You- Leadercast 2014

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend Leadercast, which is a full day conference in Atlanta, Georgia but has 750 host sites around the world, which allows 150,000 leaders to participate. I was at one of the host sites as a guest of Kinetic Noise Control.

This was the first time that I attended Leadercast and it was an amazing experience!! The day was full of inspiring speakers- like Laura Bush, Malcolm Gladwell and Desmond Tutu- who spoke on the topic of 'Beyond You' leadership. Leadership is not about you, it's about the people you are leading. Leadership should not be self serving. 

It was energizing and thought provoking. I was inspired to go back to work and put into practice things that I had learned (and things I had been reminded of). 

Good leadership lives beyond you. Otherwise you become someone's bad example. 

Good leaders ask how they can help and then actually help out.

Good leaders take the time to mentor the younger generation...they aren't scared to do this, even is the younger generation might take their job. 

Leadership starts before you become the boss. Be a team player.

This was such an amazing day and gave me a little boost of confidence on how to approach some things in my life. It has inspired me to change some of my approaches for work and has given me ideas on how I should structure my leadership style for the two summer students I will have working with me this year. 

Tripp Crosby was one of the co-hosts...he is hilarious, by the way. One of my favourite quotes from the day was:

Leaders do not take selfies. 

Tripp encouraged us to start a new trend of #Yousie, where we take a picture of someone else and say something encouraging/nice about that person when we post the photo on social media. 

Tripp is also behind this, Real Life Conference Call:

How funny, and true, is this???

I am so thankful to Kinetic Noise Control for inviting me to be their guest and giving me the opportunity attend. 

Leadercast 2015 is taking place on May 8...everyone should have the chance to attend this fantastic event!!

Appreciation...Or Lack Thereof

I am good at my job. I have a proven track record. I raised over $100,000 in a fiscal year. I have exceeded fundraising goals by thousands of dollars on a number of occasions. I am respected in my business community and I am respected among my colleagues. People want to work with me because of my reputation; I'm know for being passionate, hardworking, committed and following through on my word. People have said they like working with me because it's easy and I make things fun. 

I do not appreciate being referred to as a "pit bull" or being told I need to have a "robust social life outside of work" or having it suggested that I need a hobby. I do not appreciate being told I "need to have more of a human touch" when dealing with my contacts; I'd say phone calls, in person visits and handwritten notes that I use with my contacts is pretty "human". 

I do not appreciate being told I am "not representing the organization well" because someone we paid to do IT work for us criticized me for planning an annual meeting, which was something that had nothing to do with him or the work he was doing. Nor do I appreciate you throwing me under the bus to make yourself and the organization look good. 

I do not appreciate you inviting guests to a meeting that I am having without asking me first. Especially if you are not invited to the meeting and when you know nothing about the meeting, outside of the fact that it is taking place. I do not appreciate you inviting someone to be the speaker at my meeting, especially when the speaker is not related to any of the agenda items. 

I do not appreciate when you make it so blatantly obvious that you do not like me; not returning my phone calls, emails, refusing to meet with me, suggesting that we meet and then refusing to set a date, ignoring questions I ask, walking out of a room when I am answering the question you asked me. For the record, message received, regardless of whether or not you meant to send that message.

I do not appreciate when I have to say in a room full of people "please do not commit me to any meetings, events or projects without talking to me first" and then less than two months later you make a commitment for me to meet with someone on a specific day, with out consulting me first. 

I do not appreciate when I do my job, create a proposal for a project, and instead of telling me you don't like and to resubmit, you change the entire thing-location, speaker, activity, intent of the project- and expect me to use my personal, not business, contacts to make it happen. I especially don't appreciate when you make these changes two months after everything was set.




That felt good.

Job vs Career- Guest Post

A couple of months ago, Raewyn, sent me a random email, which resulted in us exchanging several emails and having the opportunity to get to know each other. A portion of our emails revolved around work...it was fun to talk to her about working for a non-profit and hearing her views on the subject. I'm so excited that Raewyn is guest posting today, and I love the topic she picked- job vs career!


Hi there! My name is Raewyn and I blog over at Be a Warrior Queen. I admire Melissa for working in a field that she loves and I wanted to share with you my favorite way of finding a career that I love.

I've had a lot of jobs and worked a lot of places. Some of those jobs could have been careers, but they didn't end up that way for me. In the past month I've accepted a position as a computer teacher and I can seriously see this being a career.

So how do you know which is a job and which is a possible career?

I weighed the pros and cons of my jobs. Some I would have been happy with sticking out for several years but things got in the way, and others I just knew were temporary.

I do love notes for customers! 

For example, some people could be a server for their whole lives. They make great money and aren't the primary bread winner so they serve for some extra cash and love the experience. For me, I knew I couldn't server forever. It is so unstable and, while I've always met great people, sometimes the stress just is not worth it. I also felt this way working in retail!

I've also worked at a couple of automotive places - a dealership and an autobody shop doing office work. Many people choose this as a career choice and I almost did. For me, something just didn't feel right. I liked the people I worked with and I enjoyed learning new things, but something was missing.

It's that something that we all need to focus on. Even if you feel happy in your job, if you still feel it is a job and not a career, then I suggest taking a look deeper inside yourself for that something.

1. Make a list of the things you love to do as hobbies. 
2. Then make a list of the parts of your job that you love and the parts that really make you want to stay home from work. 
3. Then take a career test, just for fun. It will relax your mind a little bit. 
4. Now, take a look at all three of your lists. Are there some things on your hobbies list that tie into parts of your job / a job that you love? 

A.k.a. Do you love to knit scarves and you love the part of your job that allows you to be creative? Maybe you have a knack for creative design and could look into finding work in that career path. Note: In this day and age it is incredibly simple to build an online portfolio and find work!

Do you love to spend your time on social media and interacting with people and love the times when you can tell people what it is your work does? Maybe you're more into marketing!

I'll let you in on a little secret - while you're doing all of this soul searching, the universe is aligning things so that your deepest desires come true. If you're thinking about doing something in marketing, an opportunity is going to present itself.

I would love to hear about your career exploration process or if you ever need any advice, shoot me an email!




Thanks Raewyn for guest posting!

Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! This is such a fun holiday and a favourite of my family! Plus, it's my grandma's birthday, so happy birthday to her!

My boss thought it would be fun to have a Halloween Social. There are 3 chapters from our organization, so I'm really looking forward to it. I think it'll be pretty low key- pizza and pumpkin carving. Costumes were optional, but I convinced my co-workers we needed to dress up! I was put in charge and since there are three of us, we're going as three blind mice! I made our costumes and pictures will follow!

I hope everyone has a fun (but safe) Halloween!

P.S. I found this on youtube and just had to share!

P.P.S. Join me over at Chelsea's blog, Yours Truly, for the Return the Favour Hop!