new admin

At the first center I worked at the director got pregnant. When she was supposed to return six weeks later a new director was announced instead. I liked this new director as a person and she saw a lot of things that were wrong with the center that were finally addressed. However, she didn't start off by gaining the respect of her employees. Circumstances unrelated to the director also made it so that the center was losing the assistant director around the same time as the director. The staff knew the assistant director was leaving and had been prepared for it. The new director found herself now needing a new assistant director.

My question is- how does one go from cook to assistant director? The staff knew that the cook and the new director had been friends for years and the word around the center was that the director made the cook the assistant director because she felt sorry for her. I don't know if that's true or not, I just know it was a personal decision not a professional one if it is true. I also know that to allow things that have happened to you in your personal life affect these kind of professional decisions is unprofessional. I could also be wrong but this may not be the best way to gain the respect of your staff either.

I have worked for administration that shows favoritism towards staff and who don't have the respect of their staff. I could be wrong but if you're going to work on the administration side of a company don't you want the respect of your staff?The new director wanted me to stay when I put in my two weeks notice a short time after that but I knew I couldn't work for someone that made professional decisions based on personal feelings not professional qualifications etc. I was also tired of working for someone I didn't respect. I like many others I'm sure have worked for and with people that I liked as a person but didn't respect on a professional level.

To start off as a new director by making a decision such as who would be the assistant director based on a personal friendship didn't leave me feeling like this director was going to be someone I wanted to work under. Despite the fact that I work with children all day professionalism should still be tried to obtain. Let me sit in the directors office, cry, and tell a sob story so that I can get an administrative position doesn't exactly gain a person's confidence that you'll do a good job and be fair and treat your staff fairly. This is something that a lot of directors don't understand and why they aren't respected.