*I was not here for this class. Due to the instructions being given in class, I am unsure of what the activity actually entails.
Discretion & Judgement
Professional discretion and judgement may relate to:
• assessing when to keep quiet
• being aware of and responding to different personality types
• knowing when it is appropriate or inappropriate to share information
• knowing with whom information should be shared
• the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation
• avoiding causing offence or revealing private information
2. Give a REAL example from your own experience to illustrate all 6 points
• Eg. I had a co-worker who was continually late and took extremely long lunch breaks – especially when the boss was not there. This annoyed me but I didn’t feel that it was my place to talk to him about it, plus the boss could see it happening on occasions when he was there. It was between them, I just had to keep turning up and doing my job. This worker eventually got his comeuppance from the CEO of the company and now no longer works for the same company. I made the decision to keep quiet and get on with my own job, however if I was asked about it, I would have told it like it was.
• Eg. When I began work in a small office (there were 3 of us), there was one lady who was loud and boisterous and another who was more serious and reserved. Obviously dynamics in such a small office are crutially important, so I got to know them in slightly different ways. For the more serious lady, I respected her position and asked her lots of questions about how things were done, etc. These conversations gradually expanded onto many more topics and eventually to having barbeques at each others’ places. The more bubbly and boisterous lady was easier to start conversations with in the beginning and this working relationship also turned into a friendship over time. Needless to say, because I considered their different personality types the dynamics between the three of us was great!
• Eg. When the prospect of first moving to Darwin came up, obviously there was a lot of consideration to be made! Once this idea had turned into a likely event, I decided to share the information with my immediate co-workers. At this stage I felt it was too premature to tell management because the decision was not yet a definite thing. Once it was a definite move, I felt it was then appropriate to share with management and my co-workers felt as though they had a ‘heads-up’.
• Eg. I like to keep the lines of communication within a professional environment as open and transparent as I can. I appreciate being kept in the loop, so often I will cc appropriate people in on emails, such as the accounts department so they are aware of exactly where the job is at and if I am not there to follow it up, they are not held up for lack of information and can act on it themselves if need be.
• Eg. When I used to work in retail, we often had little ‘gifts with purchase’ which we could give away to customers at our discretion. I often gave such ‘gifts’ to customers who had purchased a reasonable amount and or were just nice in general – people you had spent a bit of time with to help them finalise their purchase. I was less inclined to give such gifts to customers who demanded them or were rude.
• Eg. All my emails to coworkers are direct and concise, and I always maintain a professional context (as they may get forwarded onto clients, etc). However, sometimes there are issues that need to be addressed and the way that things can be written can potentially cause offence. This is when a little light-hearted explanation or a smiley face comes in handy for the lack of tone an email can have so as not to offend.
I rarely forward on an email to a client, however, if I do, I am always careful to read the whole email before forwarding onto a client as it may contain private professional information.
3. What is the difference between “discretion” and “judgement” in your own words?
Discretion is behaving in a discreet way, taking into account other people’s feelings and basing your decisions on what you know to be appropriate or inappropriate. Judgement is reaching an opinion after careful consideration.
4. Why do you use these two things in a professional setting?
You are not only representing yourself within a profession, you are also representing the business and the profession itself. If workers’ don’t think of the whole context that their behaviour can affect in relation to discretion and judgement, it can have negative consequences like a ripple effect. Discretion and judgement are also applied to the way you behave around your colleagues and clients. By using these two attributes effectively and wisely, they can help you make informed decisions that consider the best outcomes for all the people involved.
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