The other day I surprised myself in a meeting. I had thought I’d found a way to deal with language in a meeting, but suddenly found myself interrupting to raise a point. I realised that I was tired of wondering if the speaker was talking about money, computers, or people. The word ‘resources’ covers all of these, and more.
In the past I’ve asked for clarity about whether people, specifically volunteers, were meant by ‘resources’. Sometimes that was the case, other times it was sponsorship, or donations.
This time I asked if we could always say ‘people’ instead of the general ‘resources’ as a point of clarity. Then I wouldn’t be confused, or wondering.
Other participants understood the issue, and said they would try. They did say it might take time to make the change as this is ‘what happens in business’. I pointed out that not all businesses work that way, and some do say ‘people’ when they mean people.
We do right by others when we say ‘people’ when we mean people. Saying ‘resources’, in my opinion, dehumanises the people we work with. It hides the details.
Just because it might be common practice to say ‘resources’, when we mean ‘people’, does not make it right. I’m sure you can think of lots of instances where the ‘common’ word was replaced, as people became more attuned to the words being used.
Our colleagues deserve to be treated better.
Democratic, liberal societies have come a long way. We can do better, and say ‘people’ when we mean people. This isn’t just me as you can see from the post’s image. Emily goes into a few other aspects about this too.
As I mentioned at the start, my feelings surprised me. I wasn’t sure what to write today. I realised that the feeling around this meant I should probably explore my feelings a bit more. Writing this out has helped me clarify my thinking around the word.
When your feelings surprise you, pause and explore them. If you can’t do it then, do it as soon as you can afterwards. Maybe, like me you need to write something, or sketch out ideas instead. By taking the time, you’ll be clearer next time you’re in the situation, and be able to respond better.
This fits in with collaboration as we’re always working with people. Better communication aids team understanding and building of a shared purpose. It all ties together. Everyone should be taught this.
Next time you’re in a meeting where ‘resources’ is being used ask them what kind of stuff they mean: are they talking about buildings, pens, microwaves for the kitchen, or what kind of stuff specifically. Point out that you want clarity, and find it confusing when ‘resources’ is used to cover lots of different things.
You can also download Emily’s template for 5cm square stickers too from the link above. I did, and ordered stickers for the laptop and mobile case. Plus plenty to give out too.
This post is part of a project pulling together my materials and ideas about Teaching Team Collaboration: the Human-Side of Software Development for software development to students.
If you’d like to be notified of future posts, then please sign up for more using the adjacent form. When you sign up, then I’ll send you a free copy of the collaboration rules as a PDF from the book. You can also follow me on LinkedIn
The ideas above are from my book 101+ Ideas to Improve Team Collaboration, which covers all of these little things that students can do to improve their collaboration. Also available via Kindle.