“To hear people talk about ‘content’ makes me feel like the stuffing inside a sofa cushion.”
~ Emma Thompson, at a recent Royal Television Society conference.
She was referring to the way in which the word “content” is now used to lump together all sorts of genres and makes no distinction between writers, actors, playwrights, producers, and the vast majority of people who are putting their work into the world.
She goes on to say, “It’s just a rude word for creative people,” she added. “I know there are students in the audience: You don’t want to hear your stories described as ‘content’ or your acting or your producing described as ‘content.’ That’s just like coffee grounds in the sink or something.”
Clearly, she has a strong opinion and isn’t afraid to voice it! (A hallmark of strong personal presence.)
When we lump people together, there’s no distinction between individual contributions, which results in diminishing and devaluing the final product.
Emma Thompson is talking about the creative process, but it gave me pause. Does this happen in organizations, and if so, how?
The answer I came up with is “Yes.” and it manifests itself in a variety of ways. Here are three:
- Have you ever heard people say things like “He’s ‘just’ the receptionist.” or “That’s ‘just’ the cleaning crew.”? That one single word can negate important contributions in one fell swoop. I’m not sure about you, but if I find myself in a hospital, the cleaning people play a huge role and I sure as hell hope that they’ve cleaned whatever ER, OR, or recovery room I’m relegated to.
- In every organization I’ve worked in, there’s always been at least one functional area that gets a bad rap, whether it’s HR, IT, Engineering, or others. The department doesn’t matter. What matters instead is that we’ve blanketed an entire function with a label and assumed that everyone in that function should be ascribed to that label. Yet the labels may be generated based solely on the work of a few individuals vs. the group or on policies that the organization created, vs. the people who are trying to adhere to the policies.
- We ascribe group praise where individual attention may be warranted and vice versa. It’s another place where it’s incumbent upon leaders to be connected to their teams, know who’s working on what, and offer input and recognition individually and appropriately.
Much of this could be chalked up to human behavior vs. deliberate sabotage. I really believe that few people wake up in the morning and think “How could I be a total jerk today?” 🤔And yet it happens and is an invitation for more intentionality.
This week’s call to action is to look for places in which you (or your organization) are lumping people together when individual progress and attention may be warranted.
