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The_Person_Not_the_Position
| The Person, Not the Position
Taking time off from graduate school to earn enough money to
continue, I was fortunate to find a teller position in a local
Credit Union. I got more than a year’s tuition from the
experience. I also got a lesson in expectations.
I was the same person behind the counter as I was attending
classes weeks earlier. Yet the position affected how people saw
me, as if the work I was doing changed who I was. No longer a
book carrying, jeans-wearing campus student who might be the
next scientist, supreme court justice, or corporate CEO, my
brown-bag lunch, thrift-shop attire with hair in a twist, left
no doubts I was employed in a "regular" job. It also left no
doubts to their emerging assumptions.
Waiting on community members, university students,
administrators and professors in my new found role was as good
as any official psychology experiment for this psych major. Just
like positive traits are sometimes unconsciously attributed to
better looking, more athletically fit individuals, I experienced
people who attached greater importance to ideas, suggestions and
input based on position. My observation: to most people I was
the position, not the person who held it.
That observation was confirmed years later as a young mother
working nights at a department store to make ends meet. And
again as a new manager surprised to notice it was position
level, not the merit of the idea, that swayed many brainstorming
groups.
Too often we value ourselves and others by titles held, not
contributions made. We mix up a person’s abilities, talents and
worth with their occupation or position. We forget a job is
something you do, not who you are. Hearing a senior management
friend tell stories about a star performer, I queried further
expecting a rising star from the executive training program only
to hear the star was someone working in the stockroom. No
filters blocked her vision of talent.
If you want to be winning at working, manage your expectations
and biases about positions and titles. That includes your own.
It’s not the job you’re in; it’s the job you do while you’re in
it. That’s true of everyone at every level. Often we get what we
expect. Expect ideas and contributions from everyone and you’ll
get them. Engage the person, not the position.
(c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.
About the author:
Sign up to receive Nan’s free eColumn, Winning at Working, at
http://www.winningatworking.com. Nan Russell has spent over
twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice
President. Currently working on her first book, Nan is a writer,
columnist, small business owner, and instructor
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