[This post is part of our Flashback Friday blog post series for the 2013 summer months. Enjoy!]
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This was my third year as a Guider and my first year as a contact Guider with two other ladies who were parent helpers the year before. I definitely learned a lot about myself and about dealing with ladies that are older than myself and that seemed hard to get along with at times!
One of the ways that I found it easiest to deal with them was getting to know them on a more individual level. When I first met them they were able to finish each others’ sentences so I knew that it was going to be an interesting year. I asked one of them to go for coffee after that just to see where she was at, and what she was interested in. Just getting to know her helped me understand her reason for being in the organization: she wanted to grow herself; she wanted to see her daughter grow and develop with other girls; and she really wanted to be in the organization. The other woman I found out was in it because the first one was. They really were stuck together at the hip.
We eventually reached a point in the year where nothing any of us did was right. We were constantly tired of each other and wanting to be done with everything. Wanting to give up on our Unit and our responsibilities, we had to get our Commissioner involved in our situation so that she could give us ideas on how to get along and make our Unit and our responsibilities work. For the most part, we were able to get along after our Commissioner became involved in our situation. We definitely still had our moments, but it was better. We worked really hard to not make it evident towards the girls that there were issues, and I feel that we were able to stay successful towards that.
For me, as long as I stayed focused on the girls that were in the Unit, developing them into the strong confident girls that I know that they can all be, I knew that it would be alright. After all, that’s what I was there for! It was for the girls! I had to just remind myself that as long as they had fun for the time that we were together, it was a successful night.
So in closing, get to know the other leaders that are in your Unit on a personal level, completely outside of your Unit activities. If you just can’t seem to get along, get your Commissioner involved to help defuse the situation and to get ideas that you can try to get along and make things work so that you don’t end up killing each other for the remainder of your year.
I hope that this will help your year and any new leader situations that you come across. Because not everyone can always get along with everyone!
By guest blogger Jenn, Alberta.
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