Head Firmly Attached

While I would love to blame technology for the lateness of this week's blog, I cannot do that because it is just that I have been completely swamped.  Work has been crazy last week and this week and will be crazy again next week too and some evenings have been eaten by OES conference calls for different things.  I think I've eaten lunch and dinner at my desk four of five days last week and this week again and it is truly sad when you think to yourself that going home at 8:00 pm seems early.  Luckily, my head is still firmly attached to my neck and shoulders, so I have not lost it yet, but maybe later. :-)

This past weekend we continued the Official Visits, completing the standard "Three in the North" set, which is the same as the "Three in the South" set for the other part of the state.  I do have some sympathy for one of our Districts in the North.  They've been in the top three almost every other year for a while and are going to be in the top three next year and two years after that too, so they are probably getting used to having an early OV.

This week has also been filled with comments and thoughts on timing.  It is a terribly awkward, but totally necessary, truth that all the planning for future years has to be done in the present, but because the future people are not the current people, you don't want the planning to interefere with, or hurt the feelings of, those whose time is now.  In other organizations that have either multiple year terms or in which less is dependent on "whose year" it is and more is dependent on an overall plan, the changing from year to year is less jolting and less intrusive.  Unfortunately, our system until now has not been great on multi-year planning or in easing the transition from year to year.  We are starting to try to standardize some things now and hope to standardize more in the months and years ahead.  But there are some inherent difficulties in doing so which we hope we can overcome.

One of the tough ones is the level of "traditional" secrecy between years on issues that perhaps need to become things discussed with all the Grand Line.  An example of this is the selection of Deputy Grand Matrons.  These are one year appointments and no one wants to change that because it is important to see how people do.  But not only is there a tradition of changing every year, which works against having people serve for more than a year and learn their job better, but there is also a tradition that the Associate Grand Matron and Patron don't talk with anyone else about their choices.  So how can you pick people that other people might find acceptable to serve again if the people in line behind you have no input or say into who is chosen?  To look seriously at a multi-year system requires sharing ideas between the Grand Line officers on who should be chosen.  That is a big change and some might say a scary one.

This weekend, I will be in Simi Valley, Ventura and Atascadero.