It's About the Consumer!

Scott Marshall supports the University of Minnesota's Interpreting/Captioning Unit as the unit's manager: 14 interpreters, 4 captioners, and 2 schedulers.
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Day-to-day details can make our jobs about us but often times I find myself needing to re-focus. Each of us does our work for different reasons: for money, for recognition, for the variety, for the satisfaction. In the end the work we do is about our consumers. It’s easy to lose track of this, for me, anyway…

(And before anyone gets REALLY upset that I’m blowing off our rights as employees to have lives, to do our work and go home, etc., please know that I’m not. When several people in a month have expressed concern that work expectations are mere hoops, I think it’s time to rethink/reframe a few things.)

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
-- Aristotle

Of course we need to have our needs met too – don’t get me wrong. But not maintaining a rigorous sense of excellence doesn’t impact our needs nearly as much as it impacts our consumers’ needs. We as service providers can afford not to strive for excellence – if our priorities are ourselves. We as service providers are in a privileged position in that sense. In fact, if you’ve never thought about this, you're experiencing a kind of privilege that Allan Johnson, in his book, Privilege, Power, and Difference, calls “the luxury of obliviousness” (p. 75). Basically the idea is this: people with privilege can afford not to consider their privilege.

It’s not about us
I’ve recently had conversations with people in our unit about their work habits: punctuality, availability, skill development, etc. In each conversation the person asks me some form of this question: “What do you want from me?”

I often jump to a thought in my head that I’m not proud of: “I want you to do your job.” (Dang that’s hard to put out there.) Thoughts that come to mind: be on time, work while you're on work time, improve your skills – all of these details are sometimes my first reaction. (Also not easy to admit.) Why isn’t my first reaction something akin to, “What do you want from you?” or “What do you think the consumer wants from you?” or “How do you think your actions contribute to our mission’s sense of excellence?”

I need to re-focus.

Then of course comes the rejoinder. And since I’ve inkled enough to set us off down the path of defensiveness and details, it’s full of resignation: “I’ll jump through your hoops if that’s what you need me to do.”

It’s all so conceited.

It’s about the consumer
Work expectations exist so the work we are committed to gets done. In for-profit business, the bottom line might be money or it might be widgets (productivity). For us, the bottom line is different – in fact, it’s not really our bottom line at all. “Our” bottom line is consumers’ access to the opportunities that the rest of us (privileged people) take for granted. Here in ICU, our bottom line is our mission – it’s how well we’re meeting the consumer’s needs.

So here are some questions/ideas I’m thinking about as a result of these conversations and my reflection on them:

• Imagine your work from the consumer perspective, what does your work look like?
o Your service provision
o Your punctuality
o Your improvement or lack thereof
o Your self-awareness
o Your willingness to do better
• Who gets to define all of these things? Why?
• Who should define these things?
Oppression happens at the intersection of power and privilege. As service providers, we often find ourselves at that intersection. What we do when we’re there is critical…for the consumer.

As hearing service providers, we have privilege that our consumers do not. We use that privilege sometimes intentionally, sometimes unwittingly both to benefit and to oppress our consumers:
• Do we prep?
• Are we on-time for assignments?
• Do we assert our needs as professionals?
• Are we lackadaisical about workplace work rules?
• Do we care?
• Do we think we’re the victim of a bad supervisor?
• Do we accept or shirk responsibility?

One of the keys here for me is the distinction between intentionally and unwittingly. I know I need to be more aware of how I’m thinking about the work I (we) do in this unit. And I need to be more reflective and self-aware of my “unwittinglies”. This month I’ve had good intentions in the accountability department but my approach has been less than intentional/aware.

I’ll do better. Will you?

Interpreters Skills

Does your college offer or employs some kind of skill techniques/cross training that improves the interpreting level of your pool of interpreters? If so, what are they and how do you implement them?

Hey gang!

We are in the midst of the September crazies and to add to the mess, we have been asked to host 2 consecutive practicum blocks of 6 weeks each! My question to the group is how have you handled the students who come onboard mid semester (which the second block students will do)??  the first block is nice as they start with the rest of us and so learn as they go...but 2nd block! eek poor things!!  any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Lana

Let's blog!

Hello again!

The word is getting out and folks are starting to join the Leadership Lounge as authorized bloggers! 

As a reminder, this space has been created as a forum to dialogue about the topics that many of you have participated in during a recent onsite event at the Leadership Institute or during an online WebShop.  I'd like to kick this blog off by sharing the Leadership Institute's view of "leadership" as a way to set the stage for what topics are fair game for examination.

From an academic standpoint, there are over 100 definitions of leadership - some views of leadership are based on what a leader does, others on how a leaders behave and still others on what qualities a leader possesses.  And views of what leadership is have morphed over the years.  Think about what "leadership" looked like in the 50's and 60's - primarily male oriented, hierarchical...how would you describe it now?  And how would you describe how it happens in the field of interpreting?  When you start to really think about it, leadership is a rather nebulous concept and one that is largely dependant on the interplay between members of an organization or group.  So now what?

When was in my Master's degree program one of my instructors said "If you cannot first lead your own life you cannot lead anyone else." this statement had a powerful impact on me and helped me to refine my own understanding of leadership.  I personally believe that leadership is first about knowing one's self, making conscious decisions about how one wants to "show up" and support others, and having the communication, inter and intrapersonal skills it takes to build solid relationships.  Any organization, or group, is really made up of a series of relationships - in order to be successful then, leaders must know how to cultivate these relationships - and in order to cultivate relationships leaders must be good stewards of their own life and their own energy.

This is the reason that the vast majority of leadership, inter and intrapersonal skills topics presented at the Leadership Institute are about YOU!  Leadership, for me personally, has been a journey into self, and has presented a myriad of opportunities to blossom as an individual.  And we see the same thing happen time and again as we are given opportunities to share our work with others.

So that's how we see leadership - how do you define it?
Amy

Greetings & Welcome

Greetings,

Welcome to the Leadership Lounge!

My name is Kari Baker and I am the Director of Online Education at the Leadership Institute.

As the introduction to the blog states, this is a safe place to explore how topics taught at the Leadership Institute fit into your lives. It is one more way that we hope to support you in your journey toward becoming all you are and want to be.


Happy blogging!


Warmly,
Kari

Welcome to the Leadership Institute Lounge!

Greetings!

Take a seat and make yourself comfortable - you are now in the Leadership Institute lounge - home to interpreters, supervisors, managers and leaders looking for support in becoming more authentic, powerful people living up to their full potential!

This space has been created as a safe haven to ask questions, post comments and share information related to leadership. As we say at the Leadership Institute, "we are all leaders to someone," so the information posted here applies to most of us on any given day.

If you would like to become an authorized blogger please send an email to Amy and you will be added to our list of approved bloggers. If you would like to just browse posts for now please feel free to do so; we hope you will join our lively, inspiring and authentic dialogue at some point in the not too distant future.

Again, welcome to the lounge!

Gratefully,
Amy