There have been a couple of well publicised incidents recently in which well known figures have allegedly pulled rank – whether it be Andrew Mitchell and his altercation with a policeman or George Osborne using a first class seat with a standard class ticket asking the ticket inspector ‘do you know who I am?’ (according to a fellow traveller). It reminds me of an story I heard when I worked at Ford Motor Company’s body and assembly plant in Halewood back in the mid eighties. A new plant manager from Germany was walking around the floor and found two employees (both scousers, of course) who were playing cards behind one of the assembly lines. He asked what they were doing. They replied, ‘playing poker’. He said the immortal words ‘do you know who I am?’ to which one scouser said to the other, ‘Hey Jimmy, theres a fella here who doesnt know who he is! Better call for the nurse quick’.
There are a number of lessons to be learned from the incidents which have been publicised for HR professionals.
1. In the modern world, we may all have different jobs, with different responsibilities and different economic value but we all have the value of ‘one human being’. This means we start from a position of respecting other people regardless of their position and talk to them on an equal footing, either personally or when we communicate within the organisation (no patronising business speak please).
2. As you rise in the ranks and gain more senior positions, and work with more senior executives some people will naturally defer to you, say less to upset you and will be nicer to you. As pleasant and seductive as this situation becomes, do not believe that you are somehow better than others, or that you have become a superior being. Be active in finding out what people really think, continue to behave normally, be interested in others and continue to focus on your job and what needs to be accomplished.
3. Speak truth to power. Show respect for people you work for and in senior positions (they also have the value of one human being), but be frank, be honest, diplomatic but make sure the leadership does not ignore inconvenient truths. Organisations can get themselves into all sorts of problems when people do not speak up – Olympus and its finances, BBC and the current Jimmy Saville issue, Toyota and its break problems leading to a recall etc.
And my final piece of advice would be: Remember who you are. There is nothing more embarassing than forgetting your own name, its bad enough trying to remember everyone elses.
