Above My Pay Grade

Suddenly, it seems I'm hearing this phrase wherever I go. It's a way to say "I'm not paid nearly enough for that kind of stress" or "I wish I had that kind of decision making power" or "go to them, they get to decide." Any way you translate it, it is a clear choice that whatever decision is made will be made by someone else.
 
The first time I heard the phrase, I chuckled. While I had almost always worked under people who had more control over decisions than I, I had always considered it my responsibility and my right to make at least some decisions myself, rather than defer to the people above. I might ask questions or follow directives, but I don't remember ever specifically deciding that my salary absolved me of decision making. I just worked on the team, whatever that meant on any given day. So, to hear someone buck that system, and in such a forward way, amused me.
 
Yet, after a few years during which I saw how many potential employers these days were expecting an awful lot of skills and hours for not a lot of compensation, I have begun to understand a little more how this phrase has become popular. Even dedicated people draw lines. Even great decision makers know that every decision is not theirs to make.
 
As many times as I've heard it, though, "above my pay grade" is not a phrase I'm likely to use too often. While I will frequently be bound by the decisions of people in higher positions, I guess I still don't quite believe that where I land in the hierarchy has to determine how much I can say, and how much control I have in creating change. If I consistently back away from making decisions, simply because my position doesn't pay enough for it, I am likely to find myself unable to make those decisions once I need to, not to mention resentful of the people who do make them. And what about all the decisions I make as a parent or as a volunteer, positions whose "pay grade" is ever-changing (or non-existent, depending on your point of view)?
 
"Above my pay grade" is freeing, to be sure. It's sometimes a lovely release from what can feel like a lot of responsibility for not a lot of reward. But when we write it all off to "pay grade," we risk forgetting how to make the hard decisions at all. We risk losing our ability to be in that other "pay grade." And we risk losing control over circumstances at our work and elsewhere. In the end, these are not risks I'm willing to take--at work, at home, or in a paid or unpaid life. I may not get to make all the decisions, but I'm not writing them off because of "pay grade." I'm taking them on, "above my pay grade" or not.