Archive for March, 2009

Building community at work is more essential than team work

“Team work” refers to a group of dysfunctional people working on a term project or work task together to bring about a solution or product. Community refers to the same group of people who are socialized together and function for the long haul. They share many experiences beyond individual projects or tasks.

Companies who build teams have employees who are disgruntled that everyone on the team isn’t pulling their own weight. The high achievers do most of the work and resent being paid the same thing the do-nothings on the team are paid. The do-nothings don’t work and drag the process down. Teams just don’t always work. Sack the idea and start encouraging socialization among your employees. It is the wave of the future.

Why will socialization take place in the workplace in the future? People don’t know their neighbors, they don’t get as involved with other parents at their children’s schools, they don’t get as involved at church as they used to. But they spend more of their time at work. Building community at work will totally revolutionize the hiring process. Socialization in the work place will stabilize poor performance and improve attitudes. Socialization is the key to building unity in the workplace.

I was discussing this in a men’s clothing store with the manager. He told about how his company was emphasizing this concept in their corporate environment and how successful it is. He said he had never seen the response to this approach before and was very excited about it.

Imagine a dysfunctional group of people sitting around and discussing what is important to them and their lives. See the unity that you can develop in your workforce by building community. After all, community can be called “common unity.” Now you can build community among your employees and they won’t be as concerned about looking for another job that fulfills them.

The Recession Won’t End

Taken from Jim’s new presentation: Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Altitudes

The Recession Won’t End. Why do I say this? I say it will never end because the sooner you come to grips with this, the sooner you will stop doing what you have done and start doing something new, creative and different. So many people are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for “the Recovery.” What a bunch of losers! Even if there is a full recovery, things have been changed so much that you won’t be able to do business the way you did 2 years ago or 10 years ago ever again. Life on the other side will be permanently different in ways only intuitive thinking people can imagine. Cars will be made different and houses will be bought, sold and priced different (the 2 most expensive items we buy). Don’t assume everything else will remain the same. Circuit City and a host of other companies have already gone out of business because they couldn’t transition and sell like Best Buy and other successful businesses. (They were probably run by committees!)

We need to reconnect with what we do, who we are and how we do what we do. If you start re-inventing yourself now, you will be ahead of everyone on the sidelines and ahead of the market when (and if) it rebounds. If it doesn’t any time soon, you will be so far ahead of the sideline sitters you won’t believe it (neither will they).  Banks can’t sell mortgages the way they did; construction companies will bid differently and build differently; news media will continue to change; and health care will be forever changed. If you want to sustain in business, you need to change…now. Thom Winninger says, “People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what they buy.” You need to reposition your marketing; answer needs like never before; sell products that consumers want to buy. All bets are off.

No, the recession isn’t going to end and life will be permanently different. Oh sure, the market will go back up one day and the bear market will turn bull, but there’s another dip in the waiting…the continuation of the recession and time for you to change again. People will buy in different ways and intuitive businesses will sell in new and more effective ways. What is the trend in your industry? Where are things moving? What do people want to buy? How ready will you be?

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March 2009



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