Motivation what?

I am currently playing a game I like to call, "What's my job?"  I'm now on my fourth week at work, but three of them have consisted of me in a conference room for 8 hours a day learning about things like cultural competency.  Hellooo?  I'm a social worker.  Really what it boiled down to was CYA techniques big companies like to employ for risk management.  If they prove you've received training on a topic like confidentiality, they can fire you faster vs. buying the "I didn't know" excuse.  Its a good thing to have, but not when you are on the receiving end.  This however, is not the purpose of my entry.

Yesterday I unpacked my office and figured out my email system.  That pretty much took up the day.  You see, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing.  I have two executive secretaries so apparently I have a lot of meetings, but until I learn about those I'm rather clueless.  The problem is, no one around me knows what I do because I'm supposed to be their leader and already know.  The blind leading the oblivious.

Today I actually had two transition meetings with supervisees.  One of my conversations went like this:

"So, you have four people directly reporting to you.  All of them have very important jobs, but they can get monotonous at times.  Tell me how you motivate your team."  A nice way to start, I thought.

"Well, I don't really talk with them unless they screw up and their manager before trained them well so..."  She looked at me sideways.

I tried to control my look of horror.  Perhaps she misunderstood me.

"Supervision is an art.  It involves feedback both positive and negative, but a really good supervisor keeps her team inspired.  Tell me how you do that."

"Inspired?"  Her brow furrowed.

Ok, my mental thesaurus began to spin while I was also calibrating her IQ level. 

"Well, your staff are highly tenured, you know they have been here a while.  Often times people will sit and stay for peace and pay.  Does this make sense?"  I paused and she nodded.  "The years can often become blurred without innovation and support.  Tell me how you positively reinforce their work and encourage them."

"Like I said, they don't really screw up..."  She looked baffled like I had just handed her a quantum physics problem.

"Valued.  Tell me how you convey to them how you value them as well as the quality of their work."  She looked more assured and I thought I had finally made my point.  She thought for a moment and then said:

"Well once I bought them lunch."  She looked pleased with her answer and smiled.

I must have looked a little stunned because then she added confidently, "...with my own money."

Yup.

I suggested we begin meeting weekly for "coaching" shall we say.