Training & Development
Taylor Swift and the Slovenian Greenkeepers
Grounds Training Tutor Frank Newberry reports on how we can all be tempted to blame others for our workplace woes. He suggests the way forward is to try not to play ‘the victim’.
There is a line in the Taylor Swift song ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ which captures perfectly the type of ‘victim’ thinking that can afflict us all.
Blaming others is a natural reaction when we feel that we have been wronged at work. Maybe we have been blamed for another’s mistake or, in some other way, judged unfairly. Why should we take the blame when it’s not our fault? Fair point.
In the case of Miss Swift, we have the not uncommon occurrence of a person (Miss Swift) looking for someone to blame for what she is now herself doing ‐ as in ‘Look what you made me do’ ‐ ‘the role you make me play ‐ the fool’.
The whole song seems to be a series of complaints about other people ‐ who apparently caused her to feel that she was being pushed into a role that she did not want ‐ that role being? To play the fool.
Blames many people
Miss Swift blames many people for causing her to sit down and write her latest studio album ‘Reputation’ as a response to their actions. The suggestion here being that she had other plans for the album ‐ which she had to change because other people were treating her badly?
Now that ‘Reputation’ has become a best seller and has been critically acclaimed, should Miss Swift give the bad people in her life some creative credit for the album’s success? Where next I wonder when the BBC reviewer (this is just one example) said it was ‘an album of perfectly formed, clinically produced, contemporary pop songs’.
Slovenian Greenkeepers and Groundsmen
Closer to home now ‐ well, Slovenia ‐ where I was recently invited to run a group working session on the theme ‘Motivation ‐ the Key to Success?’ I was advised that the members of the Slovenian Greenkeepers Association (which also represents groundsmen) were
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feeling low, were in a bad place and demotivated because their employers were no longer investing money or paying decent wages. I immediately thought of Miss Swift and ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ which in the case of our Slovenian friends and their employers was ‐ ‘You demotivated me, you brought me down, and you have left me in a bad place’.
I explained (as I always do) at the outset of my session in their beautiful country that I have, for many years, been paid handsomely to go to conferences and workplaces ‐ to meet people and to motivate them. I have such an event ‐ for gardeners in the National Trust ‐ in the pipeline right now.
Save their money and spend it on something nice
I went on to explain that, when approached, I tell employers that I cannot motivate
anyone ‐ that they should save their money and spend it on something nice for their employees.
My confession discourages no one. My words always seem to have the opposite effect on all interested parties. Witnessing my heart‐felt admission, employers are immediately convinced that I am absolutely the right man for the job. When can you start Frank? How long do you need? Can we do the entire workforce in one go? So yes, I have worked with entire workforces in hotel ballrooms and, on one occasion, a pub.
Usually, I start my session by telling my audience that I cannot motivate anyone, but in Slovenia I changed it slightly. I took three chairs (see photo) and explained that the chairs were ‘empty’ because I had banned the people who would have used them from attending the session.
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