Communications
Procrastination, putting it off to another day …… well, dare I suggest, most of us would be guilty of that?
From childhood we remember our mother’s despaired cry “haven’t you tidied your room yet?” We would wait until the last possible moment before completing our homework assignment. For those of us who have continued to exist from one deadline to another we even justify it …. after all doesn’t stress give us that extra edge and burst of adrenaline?
But…on those good weeks when you’ve planned in advance … the timetable perfected and the paperwork complete, how good you feel: calm, clear headed and in control and you vow you will never leave things to the last minute again.
By nature of the fact that you are a Guiding Leader, you have already put yourself in a stressful position: taking on an additional role to that of student, mother, paid worker, etc. You enjoy and feel fulfilled in your Guiding role but time is always of the essence. Why not get together in a group with other Ranger/Guide/Brownie/Pippin Leaders and work towards a similar programme for the term? That way you can share ideas and resources and, very importantly, enjoy each others company and socialise. So much is shared so easily over a cuppa.
Often we complain about poor communication. I would suggest one of these reasons may be because of that same procrastination. One person will just run out of time to get that memo out or make that phone call. As a consequence this means that two other people run around chasing the said memo. This leads to another four people being involved and they in turn ring the previous two people to find out what has happened, and so on, until there are 10 or 20 involved in the confusion. So as a result we play a game of Chinese whispers and become frustrated.
So next time you say “I’ll do it tomorrow” just think about how stressed you will feel by the time a week of “tomorrows” has gone by. Ponder the fact that the memo you could have sent with accurate information will have been turned in to a conglomeration of “what I thought I heard”. Lastly, contemplate the pleasure in saying “but it’s already done”.
Linesman
(who is feeling smug in the knowledge that this editorial “is already done!” before deadline)
from Guidelines, June 2004
