Head Tale

I was in an OH&S meeting once where they were talking about buying walkie-talkies so staff could more easily communicate with each other in our large Central branch.

One of the clerks spoke up and said “What sort of training will we get?”

A high level manager could barely hide her distain as she replied “What sort of training would you need?  It’s a walkie talkie – you just push a button!”

The conversation died at that point and the meeting moved on to the next topic.

Later that week, that same manager happened to be at my branch and the exchange was clearly still on her mind.  “What’d you think of that meeting?

I had been thinking about it too because of how that exchange had gone so poorly.

“Well, here’s my take – I think the person asking about training wasn’t really asking about training.  They were asking about everything else around the idea of having walkie talkies as a new part of their work – how will they be issued?  Who will make sure they’re charged?  What if they get lost/damaged?  What does the need for walkie talkies to increase staff safety and security say about the changing nature of our work in the first place?  I’m not sure if you felt this way but I often think that it’s our job, as higher paid people, to act as translators for requests and questions we get from people lower than us on the org chart.”

Unfortunately, more than should ever happen, I’ve seen situations where higher paid people – often better educated, more well-read, more worldly – simply look down on people who are at lower paybands that may not have that same level of knowledge and background to communicate their thoughts, ideas and concerns in the way that the higher paid person is used to or expects.

(It’s a separate post about how higher paid people often see people below them as easily replaceable but see themselves as vital!  And a related thought about how anyone you hire, at any level, shouldn’t be seen as easily replaceable but instead as an investment.)

Anyhow, my point is that higher paid people need to understand that part of their higher salary means they have a responsibility to act as “translators” for lower paid employees instead of dismissing their thoughts and ideas just because they might not be stated in a way that the higher paid person expects.