Reclaimed Time

1. TOOT TOOT

One hundred percent, I am going to toot my own horn right now.

I designed, built and ran a website and its committee for my church (stake). I did it on service hours with volunteer help for two years. And the job I have done was far and above what anyone expected.

A stake is a group of local Church congregations. A stake generally consists of about 3,000 to 5,000 members in five to ten congregations.

When I accepted the volunteer position, the Squarespace site was in its infancy. There was almost NO content. I was told, "You don't have to post anything, just make it look good and make sure the content is appropriate." But it needed more than that. Someone had to put their arms around it and elevate it into a professional, useful, sharable site. And I did!

With the top five being my main responsibilities, by default I had unwittingly become:

Creative Director
Website Administrator
Editor-in-Chief (we publish articles and news etc.)
Graphic Designer
Social Media Manager
Copy Editor and Reporter
    (read an article I wrote about the 50 year old modern mid-century building we meet in.)
Marketing Manager
Public Relations (to our membership)
Newsletter Editor
Trainer and educator on Communications practices
Member of the Stake Council
Member of the Stake Communications Council
Videographer (not often)
Video Editor (not often)

Does this seem fair? (It happens a lot to people in the communications world. We are expected to wear multiple hats. Which is unrealistic, I might add.)

2. CHALLENGES AND COMPLEXITY

The site is currently unparalleled by any other stake site in the world (that I know of) in its complexity and scope. What I was able to accomplish blew my leadership away. This is not an overstatement.

Furthermore, a stake website is a rarity—most don't have one. Ours has caught the attention of other stakes who began seeking my advice on how to start a website of their own.

Below: I mean, have you ever seen such a beautiful "Resource" page? On the live site it translates well to your mobile too. Toot toot!

What I didn't anticipate:

• Leadership (my "bosses") would continue to misunderstand the amount of hours and skill required to keep a professional site functioning and growing.
  
  And to my absolute SHOCK, two people were re-assigned elsewhere. I couldn't afford to lose either one of them so it was completely deflating. But this action was very telling about the level of understanding.
  
  
• Adding to the committee would be nearly impossible.
  
  Finding SKILLED help who: are available to take a volunteer position on the committee, have follow-through (no task is simple which comes as a shock to many), and who have the time necessary—is nearly impossible.
  
  The more people I added to the committee, the more work it was for me. You can't expect a volunteer committee without the right skills, to function at a professional level at a quick/timely pace. Something will have to give. I don’t mean to sound brutal or unappreciative, (I feel quite the opposite and have enjoyed and appreciate the people I worked with) but I AM being realistic.
  

3. SIMPLIFICATION

Two years passed as I tried different ways to reduce my 30 hour work weeks. With all my discretionary time gone, I was unable to enjoy any personal side projects that "fill my bucket," it made my home and personal life increasingly difficult to enjoy.

I recognize that it's not okay for anyone to give that many service hours (in this capacity) and I burnt out before I could solve the problem. So, I had a meeting with a member of the stake presidency. During our conversation he seemed to understand the issues at hand. I gave him suggestions on ways the site could be simplified to a more manageable level. But I also told him I needed to be finished with the position (it was with the greatest disappointment on my part. I could have done this for years under the right parameters. It was suited for me quite well.)

4. RELEASED

When I attended the "handover” meeting two weeks ago, I learned THREE new people have been asked to fill my position. And to my bewilderment, leadership had decided to make NO CHANGES toward simplification. NO CHANGES!?!?

I had been feeling ashamed of myself for not staying to implement the solutions I had suggested. But when I discovered they had thrown more people at the problem instead of simplifying—I left the meeting feeling completely free and released of all guilt!

Now, let it be said, running a website like this is a FULL TIME job in the professional arena, so more people on the committee should work to spread out the load (I spent two years trying to do this after all) and it's the only solution that I could see to maintaining its path. However, when the skill pool and available service hours are both incredibly small, what happens when key players burn out?

5. BETWEEN US

Between you and me, I am interested to see what happens to the website. Those who have replaced me are web developers. And as we all know, graphic designers and web developers butt heads. So we’ll see what design changes they make. (It has already begun. LOL.)

Also, I secretly hope the stake offers me a toned down service position on the committee before my own congregation snatches me back up into something ho-hum. (All members of our faith serve in the church in some capacity. It is a 100% volunteer organization. We serve where we are needed and not necessarily where we want to.) I would enjoy being the Graphic Designer for the Stake Communications Committee. But alas, I doubt I will get that lucky...too many other people like "playing designer."

5. RECLAMATION

A friend asked, what I am doing with all my time? I am:

• catching up on TWO years of photos (aka: blogging)
  
• working on house renovations which desperately need my time
• making products with my sister for a low-key online shop
• sleeping (now that the unsolvable problem doesn't keep me awake in the wee hours, or text me in the early morning asking for something)
  

I'm stinking EXCITED to have reclaimed such a large chunk of my day and nights. And Adam is happy to have reclaimed ME.