| Ten or so years ago, an international
| |
| | took turns to read their
|
| consultant, specializing in employee
| |
| |
|
| involvement and team development,
| |
| | manuscripts aloud.
|
| published a story relating to workplace
| |
| |
|
| communication that is heartwarming and
| |
| |
|
| damning at the same time.
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | But here the similarity between the two
|
|
| |
| | groups ended, for the Wranglers would go
|
|
| |
| | out of their way to say kind things about
|
| In 1981, Peter Grazer was working as the
| |
| | each other. Far from sowing the seeds of
|
| project engineer on a construction
| |
| | self-doubt, they actively
|
| project to modernize a silicon
| |
| |
|
| manufacturing facility in St. Louis,
| |
| | supported each other, and encouraged all
|
| Missouri. A crew of ironworkers had been
| |
| | literary efforts, however feeble.
|
| assigned a particularly daunting task of
| |
| |
|
| erecting some structural steel in a
| |
| |
|
| difficult to reach area of the plant.
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | And the payoff came about twenty years
|
|
| |
| | later.
|
|
| |
| |
|
| Unfazed by the complexity of the
| |
| |
|
| assignment, the ironworkers completed the
| |
| |
|
| work weeks ahead of schedule, well under
| |
| | Gordon asserts that for all the sparkling
|
| budget, and without safety problems.
| |
| | talent residing in the Stranglers at the
|
|
| |
| | time, not one member of the band achieved
|
|
| |
| | any kind of literary reputation. From the
|
|
| |
| | Wranglers, on the other hand,
|
| Grazer and his colleagues of the
| |
| |
|
| management team resolved to express their
| |
| | emerged a bevy of highly successful
|
| appreciation to the crew in an
| |
| | writers, led by Marjorie Kennan Rawlings
|
| unmistakable, tangible way.
| |
| | who wrote The Yearling."
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| They sent letters to the homes of the
| |
| | Dr. Firestien adds that his experience in
|
| workers, thanking them for their
| |
| | business suggests that most organizations
|
| outstanding work and inviting them and
| |
| | more closely follow the Stranglers'
|
| their wives to a dinner in their honor at
| |
| | pattern than the Wranglers'.
|
| a fancy hotel in St. Louis.
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | "Why do we naturally gravitate towards
|
| The dinner was a memorable occasion,
| |
| | the negative?" he asks, and then answers
|
| enjoyed to the full by both management
| |
| | his own question: "I think the primary
|
| and the workers in a spirit of
| |
| | reason may be that we haven't been taught
|
| camaraderie. A couple of days later,
| |
| | to look first at the strengths of
|
| Grazer was walking around the site when
| |
| |
|
| he came upon one of the crew members.
| |
| | an idea."
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| Jerry was in his fifties and was usually
| |
| | As if to prove his premise, Firestien
|
| loud and jovial. Moreover, he was
| |
| | shows participants in his seminars a
|
| naturally hardened from his years of
| |
| | picture of an odd-looking wheelbarrow
|
| working with steel, and not the type to
| |
| | with a very large hopper, a short handle,
|
| get unduly emotional over anything.
| |
| | and a single wheel behind the hopper. He
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | then calls for comments on its design.
|
|
| |
| |
|
| The project engineer was a little taken
| |
| |
|
| aback to see Jerry so quiet and deep in
| |
| |
|
| thought on this particular morning,
| |
| | Typical comments include: "The hopper is
|
| especially so soon after the dinner. He
| |
| | too big", "The handle is too short", "The
|
| anxiously asked Jerry if anything was
| |
| | wheel's in the wrong place", or "Go back
|
| wrong.
| |
| | to the drawing board, Roger!" Of course,
|
|
| |
| | all these "comments" are
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | criticisms.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| "You remember those letters you sent to
| |
| |
|
| our homes?" he asked. "When I arrived
| |
| | In real life, he then explains, this
|
| home that day my wife was waiting for me
| |
| | wheelbarrow is used for high-rise
|
| at the door - with the letter in her
| |
| | construction, and there's an important
|
| hands and tears in her eyes. And she said
| |
| | reason for each design element.
|
| to me: 'Jerry, you've been an ironworker
| |
| |
|
| for 30 years, and nobody's ever thanked
| |
| |
|
| you for anything.' "
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | "Ah, but you set us up!" is the
|
| No thanks in 30 years?
| |
| | standard,indignant response. "You didn't
|
|
| |
| | give us all the information on it."
|
| Jerry paused, and both he and the project
| |
| |
|
| engineer stood there quietly for a
| |
| |
|
| moment. "How is it possible," thought
| |
| |
|
| Grazer, "that somebody could work for
| |
| | To which the presenter politely replies
|
| thirty years and not be thanked for
| |
| | by pointing out that most new ideas look
|
|
| |
| | like that when they're first proposed.
|
| anything he did?"
| |
| | Often, you don't have all the info on a
|
|
| |
| | new idea on hand when you first see
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | it.
|
| Dr. Roger Firestien, a noted expert on
| |
| |
|
| creative problem solving techniques,
| |
| | Not so fast, please!
|
| quotes this article of Peter Grazer's in
| |
| |
|
| his book Leading on the Creative Edge.
| |
| | But why jump the gun by killing it on the
|
| The need to be recognized is
| |
| | spot? Firestien contends that this is, in
|
|
| |
| | fact, the knee-jerk reaction of many
|
| clearly one of our most sophisticated
| |
| | people to all new ideas.
|
| drives and one of the most difficult to
| |
| |
|
| achieve. The problem is that we are
| |
| |
|
| wholly dependent upon others for its
| |
| |
|
| satisfaction.
| |
| | What's the solution?
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | Let's say someone proposes an idea. (That
|
|
| |
| | "someone" could be another party: your
|
| From a purely pragmatic standpoint, lack
| |
| | boss, your subordinate, your colleague,
|
| of recognition can have a profoundly
| |
| | friend or spouse; but it could also be
|
| negative impact on productivity. Studies
| |
| | YOU - your inner, creative, "real"
|
| show that encouragement and recognition
| |
| |
|
| play a major role in stimulating
| |
| | self!) If you're at all "normal", your
|
|
| |
| | natural urge will be to tear the concept
|
| creativity in research and development
| |
| | to pieces.
|
| organizations. In a magazine article a
| |
| |
|
| few years back, writer Arthur Gordon gave
| |
| |
|
| an almost frightening example of how far
| |
| |
|
| this can go.
| |
| | But stop! Don't let your passions get the
|
|
| |
| | better of you! If Dr. Firestien had
|
|
| |
| | redrawn his wheelbarrow to fit in with
|
|
| |
| | all the comments he received, he would
|
| At the University of Wisconsin, a group
| |
| | have come back to the same wheelbarrow
|
| of budding writers, said to be brilliant
| |
| |
|
| boys with real literary talent among
| |
| | that has been in use for thousands of
|
| them, once formed a club to discuss their
| |
| | years.
|
| literary efforts.
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| Wranglers vs. Stranglers
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | Defer your judgment, just for a while.Has
|
| At each meeting, one of them would read
| |
| | the idea no strengths at all? Focus on
|
| something he had written and submit it to
| |
| | these first,and the drawbacks afterwards.
|
| the criticism of the others.No one pulled
| |
| |
|
| any punches here; in fact, the critiques
| |
| |
|
| were so brutal that the club
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | The fruits of your efforts may surprise
|
| members dubbed themselves "The
| |
| | you.
|
| Stranglers".
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| | Azriel Winnett is creator of - Your
|
|
| |
| | Communication Skills Portal. This popular
|
|
| |
| | free website helps you improve your
|
| Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, a
| |
| | communication and relationship skills in
|
| group of women had also come together for
| |
| | your business or professional life, in
|
| the same purpose. The women called their
| |
| | the family unit and on the social scene.
|
| little group "The Wranglers." They also
| |
| |
|
