How Do We Steer This Thing?

 7/29/13 How Do We Steer This Thing?

As a supervisor, I often view my job as steering a ship comprised of the physical components of the office, the financial resources and the human resources. As the helms”man”, I must take responsibility for the direction in which we move. Thinking about how a sailing ship moves, we always visualize it moving forward. Steering has exactly no effect if the ship is stationary; one could move the rudder to his heart's content, but nothing will happen if the ship isn’t moving forward. Forward movement is the job of each and every staff member. We must move if the institution is to move. We look to our leaders to steer us in the right direction, but we won’t go anywhere if we don’t do our daily work and look to capitalize on novel and cutting edge opportunities to fulfill our mission. These activities will put wind in the sails and allow our leaders to steer us in the right direction. As we have middle and upper leadership changes, we frequently will make slight adjustments to our course, but the regular crew are the ones who propel us in those directions. You play a key role in keeping this ship moving in the right direction.