By Henry Chow
Although I’m not graduating with my peers just yet, I still have a few thoughts to share as the end of the Scouting year draws close.
Photo Credit: Bo Hung Chen
As students, many of us are accustomed to having clear-cut expectations for our performance. From elementary school to post-secondary, assignments, quizzes, and tests would be the absolute benchmark as to whether we were competent students (or not).
After being entrenched in this academic rigor, becoming a department head was a strange affair for me, as there was nothing concrete to gauge myself in terms of how well I was doing as a manager in the broader sense. Not that there weren’t specific targets to hit, but there were also other factors to take into account such as my performance in building relationships within the team, engaging department members and quality of intra-departmental communication that could not be easily quantified.
Being a department member in the past, I had specific assignments to complete and feedback that always came along with it that allowed me to accurately judge my performance. It was straightforward in the fact that I only had to focus on completing that specific task without needing to worry too much about others within my team.
Countless discussions were had with fellow team members and even other department heads, but I was nowhere closer to finding out where I was on the spectrum of a good/bad manager. Looking back on previous department heads for comparison, I was blinded by their accomplishments and fixated on their successes; only to be reminded by others that they were still just human beings.
It was definitely tempting to compare past and present, whether it be the organization as a whole, or the specific individuals in leaderships roles. Evidently, I wasn’t immune to this, as I would look back at the amount of website hits generated from previous years and see how those numbers dwarfed the amount of hits we would attain at present. Previous department heads also seemed significantly more mature, composed and self-confident. I hadn’t realized though, that I was still referring back to the version of myself that was far more meek, reserved and quiet; before I had fully immersed myself into the crew and acquainted myself with so many genuinely supportive individuals.
There was just no way of comparing then, with so many changes occurring throughout the years both within and without myself. I would not be able to recreate the exact conditions of the organization and department in the past, so why was I stressing so much over an unrealistic comparison?
Eventually, I concluded that the only reasonable way forward was to simply do my best with what I have, step out of my comfort zone and to treat my department members well. In some sense, I had made peace with myself. Execution of these things is another story (ha-ha), but again, there’s no checklist for being a department head*.
This was a valuable exercise in building character for me, and I implore you to take part in this experience that can only be fully comprehended once you’ve taken on the role. It is a definite leap out of one’s comfort zone, but once you’re there, an abundance of unique learning opportunities awaits.
*Would not have gotten through this year without my team. You guys rock.
