Silver Adept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silveradept) wrote2013-01-03 11:43 pm
silveradept) wrote2013-01-03 11:43 pm
Entry tags:
Follow-On to the Many Meanings of "Best" - The Explanation
Right. So I promised an explanation when I asked about the differences between "best" and "most" uses of work. If you haven't answered the questions (currently located a few posts down at The Many Meanings of "Best"), please do so before continuing on with this post.
So my workplace, at a joint meeting of the library staff, wanted to poll us about various aspects of our jobs so that they could write up a list of expectations for the position. We have been assured that they really do want our honest opinion about these things. One of the Upper Brass promised us an anonymous survey, which has not yet materialized. Anyway, so they asked us some questions. The first one was "What parts of your job best utilize your skills?" During the discussion bit in our pod, someone mentioned that they felt that being "in-charge" (a pseudo-managerial position with no actual power, no actual supervisory authority, a charge to ensure the workflow moves smoothly, and the likelihood that if things go to hell, it will fall on your head. Also, there has been no actual effective training on this, leaving us fairly twisting in the wind...) was a good use of our skills as professionals.
I disagreed. I don't believe that being put in charge of things is a good use of my skills as a librarian. There was a bit of "?" from the table, as apparently, everyone else had either taken some management class while studying for their degree or had picked up some amount of managerial experience from their previous jobs.
A few days later, one of my co-workers said to me, "I don't want to start a debate, but I was surprised that you said you didn't take any management classes in school. I looked at the requirements, and all the major library schools require management classes." Y'know, "I don't want to start a debate, but you're wrong." Gently pointing out that they didn't require things when I got my degree, she loaded up the note-taking document, and the category for that question had changed to "most uses of skills". And thus, I understood the confusion. Once I remembered what they question actually was, I tried to point out the difference between the two. It didn't appear to go anywhere. The topic hasn't been brought up since, but I wanted to make sure that my language wasn't deficient, or anything.
I did feel put upon by the way that things happened. Because of the Time of Nearly Certain Doom, I'm a bit paranoid and skewed about how things that I say or do would be seen. So, it's not like I wanted to take a head, but I also wasn't sure whether saying something like "Y'know, I feel a bit accused here." would be monstrously transformed into "HULK SMASH LEGITIMATE QUESTION!" or something similar that would reflect bad on me. (I don't have a whole lot of encouragement in that regard, shall we say.)
So, yeah, glad to know that my instincts about the meaning of language aren't off. Thanks for your responses.
So my workplace, at a joint meeting of the library staff, wanted to poll us about various aspects of our jobs so that they could write up a list of expectations for the position. We have been assured that they really do want our honest opinion about these things. One of the Upper Brass promised us an anonymous survey, which has not yet materialized. Anyway, so they asked us some questions. The first one was "What parts of your job best utilize your skills?" During the discussion bit in our pod, someone mentioned that they felt that being "in-charge" (a pseudo-managerial position with no actual power, no actual supervisory authority, a charge to ensure the workflow moves smoothly, and the likelihood that if things go to hell, it will fall on your head. Also, there has been no actual effective training on this, leaving us fairly twisting in the wind...) was a good use of our skills as professionals.
I disagreed. I don't believe that being put in charge of things is a good use of my skills as a librarian. There was a bit of "?" from the table, as apparently, everyone else had either taken some management class while studying for their degree or had picked up some amount of managerial experience from their previous jobs.
A few days later, one of my co-workers said to me, "I don't want to start a debate, but I was surprised that you said you didn't take any management classes in school. I looked at the requirements, and all the major library schools require management classes." Y'know, "I don't want to start a debate, but you're wrong." Gently pointing out that they didn't require things when I got my degree, she loaded up the note-taking document, and the category for that question had changed to "most uses of skills". And thus, I understood the confusion. Once I remembered what they question actually was, I tried to point out the difference between the two. It didn't appear to go anywhere. The topic hasn't been brought up since, but I wanted to make sure that my language wasn't deficient, or anything.
I did feel put upon by the way that things happened. Because of the Time of Nearly Certain Doom, I'm a bit paranoid and skewed about how things that I say or do would be seen. So, it's not like I wanted to take a head, but I also wasn't sure whether saying something like "Y'know, I feel a bit accused here." would be monstrously transformed into "HULK SMASH LEGITIMATE QUESTION!" or something similar that would reflect bad on me. (I don't have a whole lot of encouragement in that regard, shall we say.)
So, yeah, glad to know that my instincts about the meaning of language aren't off. Thanks for your responses.