Are you deluded?

The word competence is littered throughout legislation and health and safety documentation as it is such an important component in terms of keeping everyone safe at work. However the word incompetent perhaps is more reflective of work society today. How many of us know of a character similar to our yellow friend Mr Simpson? Someone that perhaps overestimates their abilities? Are they a little deluded but somehow walk about under the illusion that they are more superior? Scientists have recognised this phenomenon and it is now labelled the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is not just someone’s ego blinding their weaknesses but in fact being stuck in pocket of incompetence without any skills to recognise their own faults. Without any training, these knowledge gaps will remain and the mistakes will continue to happen. Of course, we don’t want to be labelled as the resident ‘Homer’ in our place of work so what can we do to improve of personal competence? This week’s Toolbox Talk discusses what personal competence is and how we can improve ours.

 WTF: Watch The Foul-mouth

Yes, I’m talking to you, Ramsay! The Great Gordon Ramsay is certainly an excellent example to highlight this week’s Toolbox Talk on acceptable language at work. He uses the ‘F-word’ like punctuation, peppering (if you pardon the cooking-related pun) every sentence with choice expletives. We only have to turn on the TV to notice how much of an everyday language swearing has become but we really need to be aware of the language we use and the effect that it can have on others. Now, by no means is this blog coming from a place of preaching and that at CES we only utter ‘goodness gracious and gosh darn it’; believe me, if we had a swear jar, I’m sure it would fund me a nice little holiday! However, this Toolbox talk hopefully will get you to reflect on the language being used in your place of work. If your organisation is aiming to project a friendly and productive working environment in which no one feels threatened, then inappropriate language doesn’t have a place. Such language upsets many people and can call into question the ethics of the person using them. Consider the message behind your words; are they inspiring engagement, commitment and performance or in fact sucking the energy out of the people around you and creating a negative environment?