Video: Why "Family" Workplace Is A Bad Idea

This week, let’s take a look at the concept of trying to build a “family” in your workplace or imposing “team-building” on your people. The truth is, most of your staff have nothing in common with each other except where they work. So don’t force them into becoming a family or a team. That just creates a disconnect.

A Filter-Free Friday™ Salute to Excellence

I'm going to hazard a guess that you are sitting at your desk reading this. When I'm not standing on a stage, I spend a lot of time sitting - in front of the computer researching, writing and responding to emails. It was time I found an ergonomic chair that didn't tire me out - and yes, you can fatigue by sitting in a poor-posture chair. The way I see it, you spend 8 hours a night in a bed that costs thousands. Why sit in a two hundred dollar chair without proper support and ergonomic design for 5-8+ hours a day?

After reviewing chairs online for about a week, I started visiting office chair stores. I sat in sixty chairs over the course of five days and in that time, found only one chair that seemed to fit (I realize I'm sounding a bit like Goldilocks here but it's important that the chair be juuuuust right). But I still had one last stop to make: Lifeform Chairs in Calgary.

Lifeform (the Mortensen family) has been making chairs for five generations. You'd think that being around that long they'd have it figured out. Well they do. And they still do it the old-fashioned way: they construct them, assemble them and sew them by hand right in their Calgary factory and then ship to all parts of the world. Ten thousand chairs a year are manufactured here.

My first sit in their Executive Series Ultimate High-Back chair had me sold. That's my new chair in the picture - and yes that's a mouse pad attached to the chair - something they can also do. There are five levers under the chair that can adjust the chair like nothing you've seen and another lever (for lumbar support) on the back. I even got to pick the actual hide of leather (no kidding - a full hide). Seven days later, voila - done.

My sales rep was Chief Operating Officer, Chris Mortensen. He knows chairs - and he knows how to assemble a great staff. I met many of the staff and I have concluded Lifeform, in addition to building an excellent product, also has an excellent corporate culture. They build a product that is far ahead of anything else I had seen - including (in my opinion) Herman Miller, Steelcase, Humanscale, etc. Not much wonder the employees are happy - they are in a class by themselves. That's a good feeling to go to work with.

So, on this Filter-Free Friday™, I speak my truth and give my tip-of-the-hat to Lifeform Chairs of Calgary. Pardon me if I don't get up to salute you. This chair is really comfortable.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Car Wrecks, Grieving Mothers And The Economy

You’ve seen it happen when a tragedy befalls a family. You see the media clamoring and jockeying for position to try to get an exclusive interview with the affected family members. Family members are in tears trying desperately to remain coherent and composed while facing the barrage of cameras and microphones shoved in their faces.

I get no pleasure from watching events like this. I don’t understand how the media can be so calloused as to think that someone who is suffering a personal tragedy would make for good TV. But they do it anyway because in order to boost ratings, the media feels compelled to put the most sensational, gut-wrenching and over-the-top footage on their newscasts. We, the public, love to watch a car-wreck. Events like this are sadly, just like that.

Shoving a camera in the face of a grieving mother is not factual – it’s sensational. Interviewing the investigating police officers of a crime is factual.

At the same time, we look to that same media for the facts of what is happening to our economy. If they will go through great lengths to make a personal tragedy sensational, wouldn’t it figure that they would do the same with every story – including the state of our economy.

There are many experts who believe that we are turning the corner in the economy right now. There are just as many who believe that we’re headed for more trouble. Those who think more trouble is ahead seem to get more than their fair share of the headlines. Those who think that our economy is on the upswing usually get buried in the story (for balance so they tell us). If you read only the headline and the first few paragraphs of a newspaper story, you get the idea that things are going to get worse.

In no less than twenty stories in various newspapers across the country in the past few weeks, I have found buried inside the dastardly-headlined stories, some hope, some optimism and some good news. But the headline rarely suggests that. My friend and business growth expert, Marty Park, made an interesting suggestion: start telling your friends that the recession is over and claim you heard it on the news. Watch how people react.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Let’s not forget that the media is a business. After being a member of the media for eighteen years, I can tell you with no reservation that the media’s job is to sell advertising. Ads are easier to sell for those with a bigger share of the market. In other words, a bigger audience means bigger dollars. Make the headline sensational. Make it loud. Make it brash. And make it appeal to the inherent “car-wreck watching” parts of us.

The awards for best photo don’t go to photojournalists who shoot beautiful sunsets. They go to those who shoot tragedy. Journalism awards don’t go to reporters who write good news stories. They go to investigative reporters who uncover a major plot. Documentary awards don’t normally go news crews who tell happy stories of companies succeeding during tough times. Those awards go to crews who bring down the big multi-nationals.

Before you think that what you read in newspapers, see on television and listen to on radio is gospel truth, think about what the individual reporters are trying to do (win awards) and what the media companies are trying to do (win awards and raise advertising revenues). Journalism is “supposed” to be fair and balanced – but that doesn’t mean that the headlines have to be.

It’s your own personal economy that’s really most important to you anyway. Your own personal economy is turning the corner if you whatever is necessary to make it turn the corner. For the most part, what’s happening in the rest of the country or the world won’t have much effect on you personally if you look after your own personal economy (household, personal finances, revenue streams, etc.). Let’s keep our eyes on the ball and stop getting so spooked by organizations trying to profit from our difficulty.