People Power

I am all for challenge. In the past I have blogged a few times about what seeemed, each time, the most challenging event of my (very modest) working life. The fact that I can add yet another entry claiming so is something I both thrilled and daunted with. They just keep getting bigger. Fast. (My biggest ever yesterday was an introductory speech at the new students’ welcoming ceremony. My biggest today was overseeing the placement test for new students.)

A recent entry explained my acceptance of a position as coordinator of a new flagship programme at Rustaq College. The job came my way, mainly because nobody wants it, and because I am remarkably good at organizing papers and other rectangular objects. People, however, are not rectangular, and dealing with them has always been difficult for me- in a small, unsociable and downright weird family social skills are just not one of the things you learn, and I still feel I have a deficit. Thing is, being good with papers is just not enough. The quest for me this past week has been balancing the people with the papers. Sometimes this has involved seeming diversions in order to maintain a connection with people, even if it means I will have to work considerably overtime on my beloved papers that always behave exactly the way I want them to, never argue, and are always present and punctual. Neglecting the people is a recipe for disaster, and at a very deep level I believe I am here to serve.

The balance is important when the quality of your work affects other people. I have worked in industries where the work is with papers and words. When you work hard there, it is for yourself. When a teacher works hard, it is for students. But now I work hard, harder than I ever have before, teetering over the precipice of this peoplework thing that scares me stiff, because a dozen people depend on me and 150 students will depend upon them. One might even argue that the future of the nation, and even the planet, depends on them. The brutal truth is that when any job becomes too much, we do only what is necessary. But it is how we define what is necessary that is the true test of our endeavours.

Then there is the undeniable fact that no organization is really governed from the “top”: if things are to work and develop to expanding potential, the initiative has to come from grass-roots level. In education, there is the concept of the autonomous learner that guides many of the best teachers. Is it not possible to set in place an infrastructure that fosters autonomous diligence, development and drive in the workplace?

My line, in this position, is that this programme is a great initiative in a great organization. In objective terms, this may be a blatant lie. But in terms of potential, it is completely true. And as I look at what is suddenly happening in our department with the arrival of 26 new staff members overhauling our workplace chemistry, there is a hint of the possibility that this lie will beget truth.

Today, as the placement tests and their time-crunched marking went off without a hitch, I saw cooperation in this department that is unrivalled by anything I have come across here before. It may be the chemistry of new brooms sweeping cleanest, yes. It may be the effects of a long summer holiday. It may be reasonably solid organization, all or none of the above. One thing is certain: although I have a responsibility to fulfil, it does not come down to one person: it comes down to every single person.