Friday, June 7, 2013

Quarter Century Lessons: Navy Blue

Once I was told that if I was a color I would be the color navy blue, because I could be an accent color or the main color. This last month I have realized that this is probably true. 

I started working at Jackson Lake Lodge at the beginning of this last month and it had been quite the adventure. I would like to say I was not prepared for what I got, but I had been warned by multiple people. Given the fact that Jackson Lake Lodge is closed seven months out of the year I should have been prepared for the disorganization that I arrived to. With it being only open for a short time there is not a whole lot of people that choose to continue working there multiple years in a row, especially in management positions. In saying that, most people were just trying to figure out what's going on the first week or so I was here, so it was a little bit of a mess. At first I just tried to get a feel for what it was like and how things were run so I would know weather I was going to be a main color or an accent color. 

I was not impressed with the way things were panning out in the beginning so I tried to be an accent color and fade into the background so I wouldn't have to deal with a lot of what was going on. A little over a week of that and I realized that if I was to remain sane over the next four months I needed to start acting more of the main color. I then started organizing things and cleaning and trying to make the communication a little better with at least our department. After a few days things got a little better. 

My boss is a soft spoken man, quite literally, I have to ask him to repeat himself multiple times a day. In saying this he does not exert himself as the manager figure he should be, so sometimes I feel I need to play that role so things can run smoother. It aggravates me that I am forced to do that, but it has been teaching me what I am made of as a leader and as a baker. In the long run I guess I should be thanking him. All this opportunity to be the main color Navy Blue has been teaching me valuable lessons on how it will someday be at my own bakery.