Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Trouble With Your Job Title

Job titles. People tend to either avoid mentioning them or they wear them like a badge, looking for opportunities to mention them while asking for the balsamic. It's often a case of social 'posturing' and people push the most impressive facts forward and avoid the rest. As soon as we reach a level which has 'senior' strapped to the front of it or 'manager' strapped to the back then our behaviour changes a bit. We may consider leaving our newly-printed business cards lying around conspicuously, next to the copier or the kettle, or updating our email signature and mailing people we hardly know or like. It's a big deal.

The trouble is that your title seldom illustrates what you do or are responsible for. It may just be me, but if I ask you what you do it's because I want to know what you do. I'm far more captivated by a picture of your average day and responsibilities than in a title which means 5 things in 5 places. But that's just me. Sometimes it takes some conviction to wade through the posturing which is sometimes the first response.

Our identities can get wrapped up in these things which is interesting because they are usually things which get assigned to us, like a desk, or a stapler. It's easy to be the person that is, but would we be willing to drop it to be known as the person who does, which is a little less socially economical? Unless it's something you've fought for then it's weird to get protective over it.

Corporates like titles because they keep things neat. It's easier to control what's going on when the names are in the right blocks. As long as the organogram is neat then people should know how to behave around each other and there should be less need for sombre discussions in the HR office, in theory. Titles are also handy managerial tools: "As an ABC we expect you to be able to.." or "you're unlikely to become an XYZ until you can..". They're also handy retention tools when necessary: "If you withdraw your letter we'll promote you to ABC..". And recruitment: firms can offer inflated titles to ordinary jobs in order to lure staff from competitors. Staff move and feel smart until they realise they're doing the same stupid work further from home. And so on.

One of the challenges in Corporates is staff responding to this neatness by sticking to their boxes with a "that's not really my job" reaction to things. So, while the employer is encouraging teamwork and collaboration, the Strategically Titled are letting that phone ring because, like, where the hell is that guy anyway?

Smaller firms such as agencies and start-ups have an opposite challenge. They often fumble around for titles because their focus is more on the important work at hand than where everyone fits in. They're just trying to get the work done. You can usually spot the new guy who came across from the corporate, other than by the chinos and nice hair. He'll spend a few weeks asking questions like "who do I report to?", and "is there a template for this?". For some small firms creating titles it's often a creative upwelling resulting in a resident Skull Grinder and an Awesomeness Master, which look cute on cards but may make your next job move challenging.

In most cases, you will be limited by your title. William Wallace said something about people following courage rather than titles, and while most of us don't aspire to lead with a broadsword we do need to be taken seriously. I'd suggest that if the suits down the passage won't consider your innovation because of your title then you may be working at the end of the wrong passage. And if you're not prepared to take your idea down the passage because of your title then you're just playing their game. Choose awesomeness, despite what the email signature says.