Gardening, for those of us who practice the craft, often provides a valuable venue for reflecting on life lessons. Take the problem of planting a groundcover on a steep bank; a bank you really don't want to mow. One possible choice is to use vinca minor, otherwise known as periwinkle. Periwinkle is planted in plugs, set in the ground on one-foot centers.
When the bank is fully planted, over 98% of the bank is bare dirt. Worse, bare dirt attracts weed/grass seeds blowing about. For the first couple years, there are a lot of weeds to pull. And if you don't pull the weeds, the bank looks awful.
But in a few years, your hard work will pay off... periwinkle grows so thick that weed seeds won't be able to reach the soil.
Problems in the workplace, much like weeds, can cause much harm to your organization. But with diligent work up front, you can cultivate a positive culture that will eventually make those initial problems non-existent.
Throughout our lifetime, we all spend an enormous amount of time at work. Why should that time be spent in an environment that is negative, personally destructive and unproductive? More important, why would an organization not want to promote a positive, productive workplace?
This site is a forum dedicated to promoting ideas for making work a better place to be. Dr. Timothy Williams, along with his colleagues and graduate students, addresses applications of concepts in four areas:
- Developing and maintaining a positive culture,
- Improving productivity,
- Building quality relationships,
- Providing opportunities for challenges and growth.
Submissions share ideas, insights and lessons learned throughout the process of trying to improve the workplace and bring about positive change. Enjoy!
Explore eight critical concerns for dealing with control in supervisor / subordinate relationships.
Dr. Williams offers essential techniques for building quality relationships in improve productivity; such as how to use power without abusing it, how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, how to collaborate with the word “no,” and how to be a hero.
A pipewrench is an excellent metaphor to describe how people in positions of power can use leverage to apply gentle pressure without “snapping the pipe,” so to speak.
Dr. Williams discusses how supervisors can easily maintain quality relationships with employees and improving productivity by understanding force as a factor of resistance.
In today’s rapidly changing business climate, an organization that does not adapt to the new realities of the environment is doomed to go the way of the dinosaur. For decades, the solution to this grim prospect has been aggressive training programs meant to keep one’s employees up-to-date and savvy, able to deal with and react to new challenges and innovations.
The truth is that training has, by and large, failed the business community. Somewhere along the way the original reasons for providing training were lost, and training became an end in itself.
