Throughout BCM 313 we’ve been hearing from various people in different spaces in the work force and through hearing their stories of how they overcome obstacles, executed a certain task or anything else similar something stood out to me the most when we heard from Ellenia Petrou
Ellenia works in Change Management which is described by very well by Kate Bowels as “… in a large, large organization is not a picnic.” She apparently deals with many people who are either frustrated or have expressed unhappiness in their work and is a big struggle trying to find a middle ground that accommodates everyone but she proclaims that she gets the job done in the end in a very calm manner.
That last bit is something that stood out to me, getting the job done in a calm manner. Solving problems in a work space is hard especially within big organisations. I thankfully work in a small team so solving problems isn’t as much of a task but to say things don’t get heated in discussions about certain polices or situations would be an understatement. Everyone has different views and morals and having a company or a team where everyone is on the same page is almost impossible.
Something that occurred to me when listening to Elle was the way she talked about her situation was very impartial. She kept an open mind to all sides of the decision that was being made and I think that is a super important thing to have when working in teams and you are the “middle man” who has to fix these sorts of things.
Something that I believe gets lost within the arguments amongst co-workers about certain things is the ability to see from other people’s perspective because sometimes (and I would know, as this has happened to me before) there is just a misunderstanding and really you both want the same thing but its just being articulated poorly from both sides.
I remember a time where during one of our weekly meetings we have at the Before and After School Centre I work at, there was a discussion about internet usage for the kids when it comes to the older children and them using devices
(whether it be for games or homework)
The Head Manager and I were in a heated back and forth about the “Why” for banning internet usage for the children, this went back and forth for a bit without really going anywhere until I noticed we actually want the same thing ( for the kids to have monitored access to the net for homework use only) and really her true concern with the kids and their device usage was actually already plausible and could be done if they wanted to, its just that our kids don’t do that kind of stuff and would rather do homework or just play games ( there were incidents during school time involving devices and cyber bullying a while ago)
There was an understanding and the manager and I have been in talks about best possible ways to go about this policy and how we reprimand it.
When listening, reviewing and analysing what Elle said and compared it to my work life, 2 big things about that whole interaction with my boss sparked in my mind, those being:
1: Although I am just a casual and she is the boss, we were able to have a discussion as equals even though we both have completely different responsibilities and legacies within the centre (which is something we’ve always aimed for as a team). I’ve told this story before to other people and they’ve all stated that they would be too scared to ever talk to their boss the way we went back and forth but i think its healthy and helpful to have.
2: I state that the conversation was heated but there was calmness to it, the “heated” part of the discussion between my manager and I was due to the passion and care we have for our work place policies and our care for the kids we look after (which we both acknowledge was our core focus throughout the whole interaction). We were showing passion but also care for each others opinions and trying to get to the bottom of this problem together through our back and forth and both of us keeping an open mind and sharing our thoughts without judgement is a helpful and healthy way to go about when discussing within these work place conversations.
Reference:
James Mackay - Portfolio 