Working With Others

There is a reason that the nickname for Minneapolis is “The City of Lakes. One of the perks about living where I do is that I am with two blocks of one of these lakes and briskly “walking the lake is a convenient way to get my daily exercise , and because the city keeps the walking path plowed all winter I can get out pretty much everyday , unless the wind chill factor in the winter is dangerously low , and that is an entirely different subject!

When spring comes to the Twin Cities, however, EVERYBODY seems to be out walking the lake. A common sight along the path is a parent pushing a stroller with a baby or toddler inside. Today there was a little boy , somewhere around 24 months old – struggling to extricate himself from the stroller. His parents did not help him , nor did they stop him. They just watched as parents do when their kids do something for the first time. Within a few seconds, this young toddler was bounding gleefully down the path stopping only to joyfully touch each new dandelion he came across. There was a sense of discovery and wonderment that, of course, his mother needed to capture on the digital camera she just happened to have in her tote.

This event reminded me of the employee a manager keeps confined to her cubicle. And casts a wary eye when the employee is not at their desk poised in front of the computer , working. How much creativity are we stifling by simply the way we organize office space and the way we expect employees to work. I’ve always said that we organize around a purpose and that every organization is perfectly organized to get the results it gets. I think this true of workspace and style as well. Any thoughts?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under Observations, Organizationnal Design and Behavior. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.