Next Day, next Dollar, Dear

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Mornin ... Didn’t sleep so well. Apparently, we’d forgotten the medicine so were up and down all night. This wasn’t our best thinking...

Not sure where we’ll go here now. Yesterday wasn’t a very remarkable day at work. I know we were there, but besides having written an article for the newsletter, there wasn’t a whole lot of work done. We kept up with the "housekeeping" tasks, that’s about it.

We were emailed the application for CARF. We think that is going to be taking up some time. They say that they’d like it back within 30 days. It means a whole lot of work including redoing our resume.

We kind of were frustrated reading through it, because we realized how much of our work has Sr. Tess involved in it. I think CARF is looking for people who’ve clearly managed, but Sr. has always usurped us of that. Everything goes through her. Like although I’ve done all the work of program development - including the performance analysis, I don’t have clear authority to make changes unless the mood strikes her ... especially, if it means changing staff priorities.

I don’t want to dwell on this this morning, because I’ve not clearly set up my argument. My friend manages about the same way too. It’s called responsibility no authority. I don’t know maybe all companies run like this? It’s just that I think CARF is looking for people who have completed all areas of their work. We’ll have to read more carefully in a couple of days when we’re not so frustrated with the limitations placed on us. Don’t like being muddled.

The one remarkable point of the day was being able to go to Dr. M’s. I won’t see him now for ten more days. That’s tough on our system. We can write, but he won’t be picking up his mail until after he is back. *Sigh*

Yesterday, I think Casey had most the floor, then Annemarie was out for a little bit. Annemarie wasn’t in a talking mood. Casey’s conversation had mostly to do with her fears or misunderstanding of surgery. Most the rest of us are ok with it, except small complications like planning on taking care without much assistance. That leaves us feeling a little grumbly too.

Shoot, not really representing a very strong and positively charged entry here. I need to think of something that is going right, or that I look forward to. Like work today ... what is it that I should be doing? I know there are always those Qnotes. I wish I didn’t have so much resistence toward them. Maybe if I can focus on themthe whole day ... so can get something accomplished. Then I will feel productive again?

It really hurt to have Sr. take me off task with the other report. We’ll have to wait until Friday, before the Administration Team gets together. All, we need is the little part where numbers are established for weighting the time DSPs spend in each of the areas. On my own this was a 15 minute exercise and only about 1.5% of the work that needs to get done. It aggravates me to be slowed down like this, especially when so much of the real work is something the others will never see or understand.

It feels as if the winds been knocked out of my sails. Again responsibility with no authority ... kinda sucks. It’s hard to be "managed" particularly when the other doesn’t "get" what is most important. They have no idea why it is important to cover the broad areas or what impact the client’s really do have on the whole.

In thought of the Newsletter article we wrote, we went back to a meeting of the Thinking Group where for a couple of sessions, we presented areas for the clients to discuss. They were topics the Administration Team discuss, such as transportation, safety, financial, community, and intake. I wrote a column of what the clients thought were most important.

Sr. Tess accepted the article, but I don’t think she understands how important it is that the clients be thinking through and contributing their thoughts to these general issues. Just like she doesn’t want to solicit their opinion on programming or which new staff we hire. I think it’s not only inconvenient, but presses upon her role to BE the authority in all that happens.

Hmm, that’s something else that happened yesterday. A new part-time staff started in the lowest group. She is an older lady who has worked for many years in the Chicago school district as some kind of an aid. Our first impression was to like her, because we think she is capable of working with the interests of the clients in hand. Sr. Tess said to make sure we introduce her to us. So, we did.

Had to clarify our position ... I think she is already gun shy of us, though we tried not to say too much. She looks intimidated by "higher authority." This is of course, a misnomer. Although we’ll contribute to her training, Sr. is the only one with authority. My only directive yesterday was after seeing her "move" one of my clients, I told her to ask the client to go to the spot the staff wanted her to be andinvite the client to follow instead of holding her hand and "pulling" her. I didn’t like that it seemed afterward she was defensive. I just want the initiative to move forward to rest with the client. We’ll see, we’ll see. First days are hard.

I don’t think anything in particular has to get done today with the exception of the Qnotes. Like to really finish the work of two clients, although it’s more reasonable to do the work of just one. I know which client we want to concentrate next, as well as the one that we’ll follow right after. Good honest work here. Maybe just a little common desk work. I would really like to be in "charge" of my own productivity. Might mean going back to time and chart which tasks are getting done. Could I be this organized? Hmm... Sounds good to me!

Picture - http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=37888083&c=a&search=Forest%2C+Crista