On one of the Mondays, the director of our current India youth expedition project (YEP) called us up for an emergency meeting. Her name is Ivona, and the group of us got to know her through the previous similar YEP (but was in Cambodia). Although we have known Ivona for about 2 years; yet our relationship was not exactly "fantastic". This matter didn't bother me much; different people got different personality and probably we just weren't meant to be "BFFs".
When Ivona took up this year's project, we were all exhilarated; because one thing for sure is the undeniable fact of our passion and desire to get involved in such community projects. She was a bit reluctant to recruit us at first, for the numbers were limited (25-30 pax), and she felt that other people should not be denied of the opportunity to experience what we have had went through, but in the end she succumbed to our pleas.
The project seemingly proceeded very well from the surface, but it is always the way she does things that made all of us uncomfortable. She seems to be making sole decisions without considering consulting the team. Despite the fact that a few of the members have told her before, she was apparently not too receptive towards that suggestion. Ivona assigned us the various roles and responsibilities in the team. She made me her assistant director, which I took it up with much pride and honor. We worked hard and played hard, breaking the ice with the newcomers at such astonishing speed we surprised ourselves, until one fateful day.
That "D-day" came to us as a shock, comparably a flaying pain. Ivona announced that our budget have increased by 3-fold due to some unforeseen circumstances, and our participation fees will be raised from a maximum of $1000 t o $2000. We were all full time students and none of us could fork out that sum; devastating as it was, we however had no choice but to give up the chance to travel to India. Ivona then agreed on the idea of allowing us to stay in the team as helpers instead. We agreed, steadfastly recovering from the agony of not able to go India. The only comforting fact is that we helping out in Singapore assured us that the kids in India will receive our love as well.
Back to the emergency meeting on Monday, none of the team-mates nor I as the vice director have a clue what Ivona had to inform us of. As she walks into the room, we waited in anticipation yet ironically, a glitch of fear on what news we will be receiving.
Ivona took a deep breath and spoke in a hardly audible voice (as usual). "As we all know some of our members won't be able to join us in the upcoming India trip, hence I had a second recruitment and would like to take the chance to introduce to the team these new members. Also, there will be a change in the originally assigned roles... alexis shall replace shiwei as the vice director, Thomas will be the new logistic head...."
I could literally feel the room spinning beneath my feet, as her voice slowly faded into a low, monstrous and dragging tune. Like a diathesis of my heart, I felt the tightness of my chest setting in, yet gathering all my strength to utter my disappointment out.
"Ivona why is it so that you made such major changes in the team and yet I, as your vice-director only got to know it now? Perhaps it would be more appropriate that you discuss this matter with me first!"
Everyone in the room nodded in agreement, and that started a little commotion in the room. Ivona shook her head and tried to explain that it was a decision she came up with only last night, based on the fact that I couldn't join them in the India trip. Almost immediately I realised how little my voice was in the team, for Ivona was the only one making decisions and rather apparently her mind have being made up and nothing could shake her decision. I was upset, yet there was nothing much I could do.
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hey dude,
ReplyDeletebefore we can get some constructive comments started here, i can't help but needa tell you this first,
Muaahahahahaha.
That post of yours gave me a such a bad stomache from laughing, you know hwere im coming from eh.
your lovely sister.
This is very bad. She, as the director, has failed because a director does not make decisions herself. Perhaps what you can do is to hold your own meeting with the group and tell them this. By making all the decisions herself, she is not leading the group to work as a team, but rather her slaves. This is not capitalising on the strengths of the individual members. Since she is not respecting you, voice it out in front of the group. Of course this is going to cause the group to split. So try to make sure after the fight, everyone can glue back together and have a common understanding. Good luck! I've been to India once. The villagers kept asking us for biscuit (they pronounce it as biscot) so maybe you can tell your friends who are going there bring some biscot for them (:
ReplyDeleteOH. I forgot to mention that actually the job of a director is to facilitate the group to come to a consensus.
ReplyDeleteHello moses,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your solution, which as a matter of fact i agree on totally. A leader is only there for facilating the meeting, not enslaving his/her team to abide by his/her rules. How would she expect us to look up to her when she cant understand the basic of mutual respect?
Thanks for sharing this with us. The building tension that you describe in the conflict scenario is quite palpable. You do a very good job of providing the context and painting the characters involved, Shi Wei. The main problem is really language use. After our classroom discussion yesterday centered on expression, I would hope that you could go back through this draft and make a few changes, for example, in verb tense. Clarity and correctness in your use would make your story even more compelling. (I know I know...I'm quite demanding, but I want to help you make your writing the best possible. Your insightful view of the situation described deserves that!)
ReplyDeleteBrad! Thank you for your comment, I totally agree with what you said about this post. In fact I read it through again in detail and I was grossed out by the number of errors (verb tense and grammer) I had made. I just posted a edited one, check it out if you got time and let me know!
ReplyDeletex