“Keep your friends close ...

“Keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer”

Don Coreleone

I just got out of a meeting, which in and of it self had little to do with me but could in the long run have a great deal to do with my organization and my phone line. The organization my office is located in is very upbeat and proactive in the disability affairs of this community. This organization has been leading a charge of employment for people with disabilities, really employment beyond tokenism. The bos has been extremely interested in having our phone service being major player with this project an in fact this would make the most sense since we re “ground zero” for all things disability in this area. The main drawback I have felt is that I am just a one and half person operation so we could be greatly impacted my a deluge of phone calls –even though I firmly believe the probability of a deluge is remote at best.

This employment committee is chaired by someone from a local university think tank—sort of a social work Rah, Rah, who has gathered a number of employment interested types one being my boss, and another individual from the community who we as an information and referral system work very close. This runs a most effective operation which serve families with kids with disabilities. This director also wields a lot of power in the community and I have heard her asking question in the community the past year or so about my program and asking some real difficult questions about my operation which have been a bit threatening.

What is interesting is that today at the meeting there was a third player, someone some feel might be an outsides, who thinks she might be an insider or someone who wants to be an insider very badly. This person also runs a major, statewide, generalized information and referral system. This I&R is fairly good, but not nearly as good as the previous director but that is another story entirely. But I could sense some stress rise t the tables as the director took over the meeting selling her own operation. Soon, I felt myself siding with the one person I had been threatened by. In seconds I felt allegineces beginning to shift and old alliances begin to build. Suddenly the whole table went political. I must be very careful now, I have all my “shields” up and I am looking in as many directions as I can and I am feeling the water. To be a player in this “pool” may take more energy then I m welling to expend at this point in time. I may not have much of choice depending at how much my boss gets on board of the whole operation but I may be able to get some credible reporting software which might make a huge difference in our operation here.

History is doomed to repeat itself. I know this. In my short life I have seen this cliché play out too many times. Hopefully this time I can get out of in front of the curve and not get beaned by the ball.