I Am More Than My Role!

When it comes to generational differences in the workplace, I'm not one to take sides. Maybe that's because I refuse to get old no matter how old I'm getting? I do my best to change perspectives and open minds so that those who work together can really work together. Yet sometimes the stuff I preach slaps me in the face and begs me to pay closer attention. I'll explain.

I recently trained plant managers and supervisors about the importance of realizing that "your employee is more than their work role" and how remembering that "will build mega trust between you." After the program, I spent time with one of the participants who'd had a former military career. He told me he worked on towers with microwave. This interesting young man probably had no idea how important this conversation was. Towers, microwave. It all sounded vaguely familiar to me. I'd heard those words before. My father, now 85, had been in the army during the Korean War. That was long before this bundle of joy came along, yet I've occasionally heard him mention towers and microwave. Did I ever take the time to understand what that was? I doubt it. Maybe. No, probably not. All I knew about "microwave" is that it melts styrofoam when you heat up a left-over burger. Until now...

When I returned home from training, I made a point of visiting with my dad to find out exactly what it was he did back then. And an incredibly interesting conversation ensued where I learned that my dad, the man I'd known as a general contractor, landscaper, and a great scrambled-egg maker, was also a total-electronic-head (my words, not his) in his younger days. As an enlisted man, he was in field radio repair in 1954 replacing resisters, capacitors, tubes, etc. That was right around the time that microwave came into existence. The army sent him to classes in microwave and he became part of an elite group who worked on (actually opened) some of the first towers, including the highest one, Mount Quirk, located near Ft. Richie Military Reservation in Cascade, Md. He's got a lot of great stories about life "up there." When his military duty was over, he started a TV/radio repair business to supplement income. I was too young to remember that, yet I do have vague memories of boxes full of glass tubes laying around the basement of the first house my parents owned. It wasn't until last week that I found out those tubes were ones he'd foraged during his army days when the army's vendor kept sending tubes to a team of microwavers who no longer had use for them. He made a part-time business out of useless parts! Isn't that what we call "repurposing?"

When we take sincere interest in other people, they tend to light up like a bulb (or a glass tube). Dad lit up when I asked him about his military experience. I watched him transform into another role right before my eyes; a role he had before he got married and had four kids, including me. Young supervisors who lead men "old enough to be my dad" often complain about the communication gap. Young employees in the workplace tell me "I'm sick of being judged by the older generation! They're stubborn! They don't like change!" The older generation does just as much finger-pointing (that'll take another article). Regardless of who is pointing the finger, I remind "both ends of the spectrum" that they are actually not much different. In the workplace, we all want others to know that "I'm more than this role!" 

But it goes further than that as I found out this past week. Our loved ones deserve that too. "I am more than your daughter." "I am more than your brother." "I am more than your husband". We are quickly heading into the holidays with what can sometimes be an awkward gathering of...f a m i l y.  Why not try something different this time? Why not let this be the opportunity to practice new behavior? Why not approach the holidays remembering that each of those relatives are more than the role (or the box) you've place them in. Ask them questions you have yet to ask without judgment or expectations. Ask without holding them accountable to do the same for you (yes - don't do that, it defeats the purpose; instead, just listen). Especially with the older generation. The ones who hold the history. The ones that teach us things we never knew and educate us in ways that no books can. Watch them light up like Christmas tree lights. Who knows how much time we all have left to find out things we never knew? In my dad's case, I am blessed to still have the time and a list of questions yet to ask.

Happy holidays!

Lynette

Lynette Landing | www.JohnnySupervisor.com

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