No, not the ‘F’ word, or the ’see you next tuesday’ word.
I’m referring of course to:
‘Diversity’
‘Equality’
‘Health and Safety’
‘Child Protection’
Working as a civil servant and working with kids, I have these words vomited over me with alarming frequency.
They used to have meaning. Once upon a time. Once upon a time they represented a more enlightened philosophy, that people could be treated fairly, and be provided with safe working environments, and feel safe from harm and persecution.
Nowadays they mean something slightly different.
What do they mean to those who use them the most? I’m thinking upper and middle management of larger organisations, and in my experience of course, this equates to the Civil Service and the Scout Association.
They mean nothing. They are simply words that are rained down from above upon these people. Words that are accompanied by orders to proliferate them as widely and as frequently as possible.
Actually I lie. They do have a meaning to these people. In fact, the words all share the same meaning, at their heart. The meaning is simple:
‘Tick in a box’.
Seriously, thats all they mean! At my place of work, we have to fill in performance agreements every year, that list our targets and objectives for the coming year (what it is we aim to achieve and what standards we aim to reach). I have just received an email from our HR department, listing the mandatory diversity objectives for this year, objectives that have to be included in my own personal list of targets this year. I have to promote a ‘culture of diversity’ within my area, apparently.
It’s stuff like this that greets me every morning, with the express purpose of pissing me off before I begin a days work. To ‘demotivate’ me if you will. Empty hollow words, spewed by empty, hollow people.
I’m sure many of these people have lives outside of this place, families, social circles, interesting hobbies. When they come in here however, something switches off. Something goes to sleep. I think that something is ‘Passion’. ‘Enthusiasm’. ‘Self-determination’.
There’s no room for any of this here. We are simply required to fulfil a predetermined set of criteria. Of course, one of those criterion for managers is to ‘promote respect and recognition of staff contributions and celebrate success’. I just read that off a poster that has been put up near me (I assume to motivate me) to explain the senior management teams ‘vision’.
Reality bites frequently here though. I’ve spent the last few years having all my contributions ignored, humoured, and more recently, directly squashed and sabotaged. The simple reason for this is that my management don’t want any more hassle than they already have. Contributions that rock the boat, that challenge the status quo are not welcomed. People just want an ‘easy life’, including my own management*.
The really insane thing is, that they have already achieved their goal of ‘promote respect and recognition of staff contributions and celebrate success’ as demanded by their superiors….by putting up the poster.
By putting up a poster they have taken action, and can therefore tick the box that says they have achieved the objective set out in their performance agreement. There’s no requirement to follow up on these posters, to see to it personally that these values are put in place. Nope. Just put up the poster. It ticks the boxes: its got an ‘inspirational’ picture of a team of rock climbers acheiving a summit (expertly posed and choreographed - I imagine the summit is about ten metres above sea level); it includes words like ‘respect’, ‘vision’, ‘united’, ’supportive’; it has a cool acronym - let me share it with you:
Respect and recognition
Action and
Integrity
Shared vision
Effective decision making
…do you like that? Do you see what they did there? ‘RAISE’. Yeah? Do you see it now? Cool isn’t it? I feel more motivated already…
Actually the good thing is, I do feel more motivated. More motivated to get out. I have been saying this for years though. Maybe my hatred for this place will actually reach a level one day where I do take action and find something that actually has meaning to do as a job.
If any of my Scouts, ex-scouts or any of the hockey players read this blog ever….stay out of the rat race kids. Trust me. Follow your dreams. Chase them. Cherish them. Stay debt-free. Take a job that actually means something to you personally, where your actions have a direct effect on the business, and you feel the connection between your efforts and your rewards.
Take advantage of school - learn all you can. The opportunity will not be there forever, and you will regret not using it while it was available. Even if your teachers are complete pricks, even if the system is unfair and corrupt in your eyes. Take advantage of it - use it to serve your own ends, to better yourself. To prepare yourself for a life of prosperity…and I do not mean just money.
Take risks with your career choices. Maybe they will fail, but you will be able to live the rest of your life knowing that you at least tried…and that is worth more than money. Money doesn’t matter, honestly. Make enough to live, and then live. Don’t live to work, unless you find (or make) that job that gives you meaning. The people that tell you to earn more, to buy more, to borrow more - they say all this stuff only to take your money, to enslave you in debt, to use you for their own ends. Don’t trust anyone that stands to make money from you. Don’t ever trust them.
Don’t ever trust them.
Take my advice kids, and maybe you can avoid the soul-destroying numbness that you have to strive to find and impose upon yourself in order to survive the 8 hours a day, every day, stuck in places like where I work.
You’ve got one life kids - go out there and live it. These minutes you’ve just spent reading these words? You’re never getting those back. They’re gone.
Life has the potential to be truly wondrous, but you have to make it so yourself. If you wait around, and allow others to determine the course of your life, you’re not in for an easy ride…it will be…..well, it will be…..
‘meh’.
Carpe diem. (If you don’t know what it means, look it up)
[More cheerful posts to follow...]
*I should add here, that there is one link in my management chain that is seemingly genuine about wanting to help me in my situation, and seems to have more than an ounce of integrity. This has not been put to the test yet, so I reserve judgement for now…