This week, the staff at CKC had the pleasure of celebrating a major service milestone at CKC. Diane Draper, Manager Regulatory marked her 40
th anniversary at CKC on February 7.
For those that don’t know, Diane has worked much of her career in the area of Regulatory meaning that she oversees the development and maintenance of our by-laws and policies and procedures. She also oversees a contentious side of CKC; complaints, and discipline and appeals files.
In comparison to 40 years, I’ve only been here for 6 years but over that time, I’ve worked with Diane through a lot of interesting challenges and cases and projects, many of which were unique, not only for me but also for Diane after 40 years. I’ve heard her say may times, “we’ve never had this happen before”. While it’s true, if you heard Diane say it you would also hear in her voice that she is probably just as captivated and stimulated by her job as the first day she started.
After 40 years, she continues to approach each new situation with an open mind and prepared to consider and reconsider and promote change to find a solution.
In any kind of positive relationship in
or outside of work, one important factor to enjoying a relationship is to continually learn from it. So, I’d like to share my thoughts from what I’ve learned from Diane.
- The polices and by-laws are boring and bureaucratic. They have a bad reputation BUT I’ve learned from Diane that they are also tools that can save the day in situations that can be very exciting, or tense, or confusing or controversial or UNIQUE. So as tools, they can build a long-standing foundation or fix things that aren’t working properly. Diane has worked on this for much of her 40 years at CKC. With that kind of experience, I can say without doubt that her fingerprints will be found all over those tools for many years to come. Because she has done such a good job in crafting the tools, fine tuning them when required and coaching us on how to use them safely and responsibly.
- Any obstacle can be worked though. When faced with obstacles, whether they be physical, personality clashes, business restriction, Diane has envisioned the end results and solution and worked through it with a plan while seemingly never phased. After 40 years, this could be anything from a financial crisis, chairs flying at a meeting or snow banks taller than her.
- That you can make the greatest progress with cool head. Like the old adage “Never Let them See you Sweat”, Diane has taken this approach and used it with respect, fairness and transparency. I’ve often made the comment that if we had the advantage to design the person and the personality best suited for handling complaints, discipline and appeals, we would design Diane. She has seen our passionate members at times that may cause them to be heated, and she has never waivered on her commitment to stay cool. And that is a commendable trait, especially for someone I have come to know as sensitive and compassionate
and dedicated to her colleagues and our members.
So Diane; Thank you for my lessons learn and the inspiration they have provided.
Diane, we offer you our congratulations and sincere thanks for 40 years of contributions to the legacy of the Canadian Kennel Club. Just like the case files and situations you deal with at CKC;
you are one of a kind!