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Having been co-founder & lead investigator of two paranormal investigation
groups in the State of Maine, I feel that it's important for group leaders to
find support in leaders from other groups. Networking is so important because
we're all going to get each other through this crazy business of running an
organization that goes into people's homes to "hunt ghosts". We all need to
support each other & give/receive advice to each other if we're truly in this to
learn and contribute to this field of study.
I, personally, take my role as a team leader very seriously. Maybe too
seriously, my team members would say... but excuse me, there are people who are
reaching out to us asking us for help and they are putting a lot of trust in our
group allowing a bunch of strangers to wander through their house "checking it
for ghosts"! I certainly am not going to subject our clients to anyone who is
not going to take their job seriously, I can guarantee you that.
I've found that most of the people who ask for permission to join our groups
are mainly those who think it would be a blast to be able to tell their friends
that they are member of a ghost hunting group & to go out getting themselves all
freaked out in the dark once every week or two or three... depending on if they
have time or not. People... read on:
Imagine being in a situation where you felt trapped... you are trapped in a
home with someone who is abusing you mentally, emotionally, maybe even
physically... you're scared & you're at your wits end because you've put up with
the abuse for waaaay longer than you should have because you didn't reach out
for help because you were scared that nobody would believe you and afterwards
you'd be stuck with an even angrier abuser in your home. You finally hear about
a group of people who help victims such as yourself and you muster up the
courage to ask them for help, knowing that you're risking the "consequences" if
this doesn't work. Now imagine breaking down and calling this group of people
for help and they come into your home, disrupt your entire family, joke around
and act like this is for the purpose of their own entertainment, take pictures
and videos of your entire property and your belongings... and then leave and
tell all their friends about your "ghost stories".
Now, if a psychiatrist treated a patient that way, he'd lose his license to
practice medicine! Well, whether there's a law in place to force people to
practice "responsible paranormal investigating" or not... we, as humans, need to
take great care in tending to the needs of those who need our help!
This is why it is so important to me to "crack the whip" when I see a team
member messing around too much and not taking things seriously... There is
nothing at all wrong in pointing out the humor in certain situations- that I
don't have a problem with, rather, I encourage it if it's not to the detriment
of someone's feelings or to the seriousness of the situation (timing is
everything- remember that and you can enjoy the humor AND the reputation
for being professional)...
It's when members don't show up to meetings and investigations, don't
stay in contact with the group, don't want to contribute in any way other than
to show up when they feel like it, don't share in any of the work involved in
running the organization and letting it fall on the shoulders of a select few
instead... it's not fair to the clients OR to the other team members.
And speaking of acting in fairness to the others in your team... it's called
a "team" for a reason... "team", meaning, we work together in a
cooperative effort to accomplish a common goal... when most members of the group
make an effort to attend meetings & investigations, work hard on their research,
act in a professional manner and basically bend over backwards to contribute to
what they feel is a very important cause...
...and then someone new comes into the group and suddenly, every 10 minutes
of the meetings are interrupted by calls from the person's spouse... "Do you
remember where you put the big frying pan?"... "Can you pick up some milk on the
way home?"... "How do you add the fabric softener?"... yeah, that gets a little
annoying to the other members...
...and when a member spends hours and hours (without pay of course) the week
prior to a meeting gathering info and typing it all out and printing copies for
the rest of the group... and then another member doesn't feel like taking the
time to fill out a short survey about their thoughts on it... yeah, that's a bit
disheartening to the one who worked so hard... and it's disrespectful to them as
well.
What does a leader do to weed out those who will be more of a detriment to
the group than a contributor? I'm beginning to think that these certification
courses could very well be the answer. What I don't like about depending on them
is that I'd be concerned that if I require potential members to first obtain a
diploma, then I may be discriminating against those who can't afford to take the
courses and yet may have TONS of research hours & field experience under
their belts.
Another issue I find occurs often for my groups and others I've talked with
is being sent on wild goose chases. We all spend too much money on gas and too
much time away from our families to "waste our ghost time" investigating places
that some teenager made up a story about around a campfire, but nobody has
actually experienced anything there, other than crossing the road when they walk
by it because it gives them a creepy feeling. I really feel for TAPS when they
discover that they've travelled miles and miles and miles to investigate a place
that they actually got invited to so that the owners could try to pull one over
on them or pull a publicity stunt, basically. Maybe these people think it's ok
to make a mockery of a group's research and their time and effort, but tell that
to their kids who are waiting at home for their Mums & Dads to get home from
their "really important trip"!
So, if this stuff bugs me so badly, then why am I still here writing about
it? Well, if I could escape it, I would. I'd just throw up my hands, walk away
and say, "Fine, whatever, be that way." However, I don't have the luxury of
walking away from something I'm passionate about! What good would it do to walk
away- I'd walk home all frustrated, make a cup of coffee, sit there stewing
about my "issue" and then remember that it's Friday night and run frantically to
the tv to watch "Ghost Adventures" so I don't miss any new info they may have
discovered.
My point is: a person who is looking for answers, researching a
subject that they are passionate about, is not going to be able to "just forget
about it" & move on with their lives. The questions still need answers! No
amount of switch-flipping is going to turn that off!
If anyone would like to share what they've learned in their
experience as a team leader, please
send me
an email with your written article and I will post it as a follow-up to this
article here on this page. I welcome the wisdom you can share through your
experience!
Article by: Jessica Devoe
Date: July 29, 2009
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