Tools

As part of that wonderful process known in corporate-land as "The Annual Review" (also known as "The Long Month of Avoiding Writing Your Review"), one is expected to identify goals and objectives for the upcoming year. This can include things you want to accomplish, skills you want to add, and certifications/class you want to take or achieve.

As part of this process I had considered listed out organizations and certifications which would both meet my current needs as well as allow me to continue to grow in my career. They seemed reasonable, rational and would have seemed (to me) to add value to my current place of employment.

As we talked through the draft of the review, the organizations were reviewed. One organization, one certification was reviewed and discussed -no problems. A second organization, not the one I was thinking of, was also covered - not what I had planned, but seemed sensible. For the third organization, the one that would represent my growth into a new part of the industry? No need, I was told. If I had any questions in that area, I could consult our current resources.

We then moved to objectives. As these were discussed, what became apparent is that these objectives, while probably useful but not what I had identified, were created in such a way that they sought to move responsibility from the plate of others to mine (without, I might add, any reduction in my own workload). It was not, it seemed, so much my own growth as the reallocation of work from others that seemed to be the end result of this.

At that moment I realized I was a tool - and I was being used for a purpose other than what I had intended. I had sought to increase my value and skill set; I was being defined as what served the purposes of the employer and their resourcing.

The reality is that, at least in the business world, every employee is a tool. We are an object, an item with particular properties which can be used in similar ways. There are a variety of tools across multiple industries (and multiple cultures) which are all designed to do a certain series of tasks.

However, tools tend to be designed to do one thing: a hammer is not a screwdriver, a set of pliers can't really hammer things in, and a wire cutter can hardly press things together. People are not precisely tools of course: we have multiple abilities that can be used across a variety of work situations.

But our perception and that of our employers may differ. We are hired by them to perform a particular set of tasks using the skills that we have acquired. Dependent on them for improvement, we will only ever do that particular set of tasks .

Why? Because when one has a good tool, one scarcely wants it to disappear. By improving it, by changing it, it may not do what it was originally purchased to do; contrariwise, it may do things which cannot be done in your shop (but in the shops of others).

But the definition lies within us.

We are the definers of our utility. Left to those outside of us, we will be defined by what they need us to do. It is up to us to define what we want to do and what we want our utility to be.

The saying is true: there is no master training and succession plan in Human Resources. Whatever you want to be or become, you will have to do yourself.

Employers hire value. Become the value you wish to have, not the value defined for you.