Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Knowledge comes with age. Older colleagues don’t need to be taught some things that younger ones do. There are, however, times when you want older colleagues to attend events that are not necessary for them. Explaining the reasoning makes attendance easier.

I’m in my 50s. I know much more than people in their 20s. That reads a bit egotistical, but stay with me for a few more words. I don’t claim to be smarter than people in their 20s or better in any other way. It is just that

I have had 30 more years to learn things than people in their 20s.

That’s a simple statement. One of my challenges, however, is remembering it.

For example, I worked with several community organizations recently that were creating budgets. The total budget was about a million dollars a year, the budget for my part was about $5,000 per year. I’ve worked hundred million dollar projects in the past. Building a $5,000 budget takes about 20 minutes with 15 of that typing numbers into a form. It really isn’t worth the effort to type the numbers.

One organization wanted me to attend several afternoon-long meetings to build this budget. I didn’t understand why we needed such a long meeting for a relatively simple task. Long explanations followed with me nodding my head through it all. Yes,

• you start with big goals,
• break them down,
• break them down,
• break them down,
• have activities at the leafs of the breakdowns,
• calculate resources at each activity,
• bubble the resources back up the branches,
• sum everything,
• and there you have it.

This is all simple enough and I have been through the exercise time and again for 30 years.

So why do I need to attend several afternoon-long meetings?

The meetings really weren’t for me. They were instructional sessions for people who didn’t have the same 30 years that I had. The bullets above were all new to them.

So why do I need to attend several afternoon-long meetings?

Encouragement. That was the answer. My presence was an encouragement to other volunteers. That is the nature of volunteer organizations. We often need to see others in the room to know that we aren’t alone.

I wish someone had started with,

This isn’t for you, but we’d like you to attend.

I could have understood that, and it would have reminded me that

I have had 30 years to learn things.