I was told once that leadership can be a lonely place. They were right. Being a director there is a lot that happens and no one you can talk to about due to confidentiality. Sometimes it makes you feel very alone. One support that is very important to me is my mentor, she has been a director for over forty years and has see it all. Some days I will call her and run scenarios by her to get her opinion or just to vent because everyone needs to vent now and then. She is able to help guide me in the right direction when my mind is clouded with nonsense within the center. With her I think I would probably burn out and leave my position sooner than I would of planned. Without someone to talk to who understands exactly what it is you are going through it makes the day to day harder because you feel misunderstood on a constant basis. My husband and my mom are my other two big supporters. My husband can usually tell the second I get home if it's been a good or bad day and knows what to do to help me through it, by giving me space if I'm frustrated or giving me a hug if I'm upset; it feels good to not to have to talk and to have someone know immediately what you need. My mom is a good listener but at the same time is able to put me in my place if I am being unreasonable. Without my husband or my mom I do not think I would be where I am today and without them I would feel lost. I look at them as my support team. At the same time my mom has raised me to not rely on people, so I feel I would be resilient if for some reason they were no longer there but it is nice to have people you can go to when you are down and out.
A challenge I think of is when you have a disrespectful employee who does not follow center policies. Supports I would need would be from my admin team to help document the employees behavior, I would reach out to my mentor and get her opinion on the situation, and then I would talk to my supervisor and clarify what capabilities I have for corrective action and if that is the route to go. Emotionally I would probably rely on my husband and puppy to help me de-stress from the situation once I got home. All of these supports would help me make a good decision in this situation and feel confident in my decision making. Without these supports I think I would feel overwhelmed and stressed out, I don't think I would feel very confident in any decision made for this particular situation. I feel very fortunate for the support system I have.
