When Sheila Landress, a research assistant at Miami’s Heinz Limited, stated in a recent task force meeting that a proposal on transformation was wrong “on so many levels,” she didn’t anticipate being asked to identify each of the many levels on which she believed the proposal was wrong.
With all heads turned her way, she was left to bluff and stutter. In the end she could name just one: The “t” wasn’t capitalized. She was soon removed from the task force and assigned to color-categorizing file folders.
Sadly, Ms. Landress didn’t realize that Heinz has joined a growing number of companies now requiring employees to identify the levels they say things are right or wrong on.
“Accepting level designations without question is no longer part of our core vision,” says Heinz human resources director Julia Wells. ”Employees have a responsibility to identify and explain their levels in detail.”
Use of “on so many levels” has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2021 it bypassed “Hold his (or her) feet to the fire” as the USA’s 14th most utilized workplace expression. (In Europe it is No. 22 and rising). The US Bureau of Business Levels estimates that by 2025, half of American companies will require level identification – which will mean, on average, an extra two hours of pre-meeting research per person.
That’s ok with researcher Landress, who’s trying to recover from her gaffe and re-start her career.
“My core vision,” she says,” is to be better at level identifcation than anyone else in the company.”
