Upgrade

[Mark Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Dave Brand

OK, having urged caution in upgrading, now for the other side of the coin.

Your grade should be a reflection of your experience & ability. By not upgrading you're denying yourself the recognition you deserve & giving a somewhat false impression to your colleagues. We're lucky at Oulton to have good manning levels, thanks to vigorous recruitment over the last few years, but currently we have a very high percentage of trainees on post. We look to those trainees to become the future IOs, flag marshals, Post Chiefs, etc. Unless you're prepared to take that first step the rest of the progression can't happen.

When I have somebody I don't know on post with me the only indicator I have of their ability is their grade; if they are graded as trainee I have to assume that their experience is limited.

There's also the training aspect - training is geared to your current grade, so by not upgrading you're probably not getting the level of training which matches your experience.



It shouldn't be about the rewards, it should be about the satisfaction which results from having your talents recognised.

AMEN

[numbersix]

I'll add to the above.

When I first started in the Orange, all I wanted was to simply be there, be involved and merge with the lads and lassies on the bank. I had no desire to upgrade because my entire business week is about decision-making and problem solving and I just wanted a break. Upgrading to anything was not an option.

However, thanks to the aforementioned Mr Brand, Mr and Mrs Lewis (although the less said about HIM the better ) and many others, I was encouraged/forced/kicked to upgrade and to my immense surprise - I enjoyed it. I hated the thought of IO, until I tried it. I hated the thought of Post Chief - until I found out it's fun! I hated the thought of flagging, but found I thoroughly enjoy it.

I would never have discovered these things had lunatics not dragged me into them and I encourage every marshal to give these things a try. There's more to it than you see by watching from afar and each level has its own special camaraderie. There is also that nice feeling that you're an all-rounder, and at places like OP it is appreciated in many ways.

Give them a go. You might be surprised.

[Slipstick]

I'm quite capable of answering any query about my grade with "Trainee but I do have X years flagging". That's surely enough of a hint ? But in reality I find that as soon as I say I'm on flags the PC doesn't ask any more .

OTOH from all the discussion I've seen I may be the only person in the history of marshalling that doesn't want to upgrade because I don't want to be obliged to do more incident (and to get to be an official Flag Marshal I'd have to do quite a lot). I've tried incident, I'm not good at it, I don't like it and I really don't think people having serious incidents need to be attended by someone who is barely marginally competent and who'd much rather be somewhere else.

Steve

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by Slipstick

But in reality I find that as soon as I say I'm on flags the PC doesn't ask any more .

I don't ask, but only because I've seen you in action!

See your PM's for more on this.

[katrina.kershaw.7]

Rang msa no sorry not had anything. Rang regional grading officer left a message nope not heard anything. Emailing him next :-(