Different Goals, Different Priorities

A great source for confusion and conflict in the workplace is when individuals are operating with different goals and priorities that are tucked within what sounds like the same goal.

I saw this years ago when working in the area of equal opportunity. Although one might think that an equal opportunity program is supposed to promote, well, equal opportunity, there were folks who saw it as guaranteeing equal result. We'd talk past one another on a regular basis, partly because few people were willing to declare that equal result was truly their goal since that was politically unattractive. Those of us who favored equal opportunity could point to the words of Martin Luther King Jr. with regard to a color-blind society. The other side would also honor Dr. King, but would then favor color-consciousness. What appeared to be an area of agreement was instead one of profound disagreement.

So it goes with other subjects. I've seen HR professionals who place greater emphasis on controlling the flow of information to employees than on educating employees. Given a choice between the two, control will always win but a great deal of lip service is be paid to the general goal of education. Just as the formal organization chart can differ enormously from the real organization chart, so too is there a difference between what is proclaimed in general and what is specifically advocated or implemented. Listen for the first, but always look carefully at the latter.