Work with people who like me and appreciate my capabilities

So thanks to being laid-off once again, I now have new teaching opportunities. Last week was session one of Speech 100 at a Maryland University. First nights are a challenge as the syllabus must be reviewed and all the assignments described so students understand the demands of the course. This particular class is three hours, 7-10 PM. Most of the students work long days, then take their classes, and go home to pick up the toys, do the laundry, and get ready to do it all again the next day. How would I engage them for that length of time; how would I inspire them to stick with the course, to get on board?

At the beginning of the class, Ms. L sat front and center, her head in her hands. When she did raise her eyes and look in my direction, she scowled, her mouth set flat. Slowly, throughout the evening, she sat up more, wrote down a few things, started to ask questions, venture answers. The evening wore on and as we were finishing an activity, I said, “Oh, we have to stop this now. It’s 9:30 and I still have one thing we must do.”
“9:30? You’re kidding?” Ms. L said. “Time is flying by in this class.”

To a teacher, that is as good as a standing ovation. It was a very good night for teaching. Several students lingered to chat – another sign that the class was meaningful to them; that they will be on board for the rest of the voyage.

I feel fortunate to have been “forced” to work where I am appreciated, seen, and still challenged and growing as much as my students.

My boss just asked me to write a cover letter, which I promptly did. I took the letter into her. I explained that I had included some information, “I included that we were also enclosing copies of the letters our teaming partner mailed.” As I spoke, she frowned and shook her head ‘no.’ Then she recovered herself as she actually understood what I was saying and said, “Oh. Okay.”

My mere presence produces anticipated negative outcomes for her. This does not bode well for my future here.

I was hired as a proposal writer. I was contacted by them. I responded by saying I was a writer but not specifically a proposal writer. They were comfortable with that and hired me. Three months later, it appears that they (the boss) is less comfortable with that than there were before.

So I was thinking about leadership and management and recalled that Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s “The Little Prince” has a bit in there about that and expectations.

“If I were to command a general to turn into a seagull, and if the general did not obey, that would not be the general’s fault. It would be mine.”

My that Antoine was onto something.

She just returned with the letter, littered with red ink.

I will try again.

A bit more from Antoine:
“If I commanded a general to fly from one flower to the next like a butterfly, or to write a tragedy, or to turn into a seagull, and if the general did not carry out my command, which of us would be in the wrong, the general or me?”

“You would be,” said the little prince quite firmly.

“Exactly. One must command from each what each can perform,” the king went on. “Authority is based first of all upon reason. If you command your subjects to jump in the ocean, there will be a revolution. I am entitled to command obedience because my orders are reasonable.”
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I just wrote a long explanation of why the quote is relevant to my own situation but decided to erase it.

Suffice it to say, I am asked to do things I do not possess the information, resources, or support to do. I benefit the least from accomplishing the final outcome, yet the people who benefit the most neglect to oversee the product and then blame me.

AND I am marginally acknowledged on a social interaction level. I begin to understand how “the help” feels.