More on problems….or happiness

or unhappiness and problems as the case may be.

Hal Macomber points to an article by John Brandt in Industry Week.

“The sad truth about unhappy companies: They won’t be around much longer,” says Brandt.

Unhappy companies share a set of traits that make it difficult for them to change and respond to their troubles (quoting Mr. Brandt):

1) A belief that employees are dangerous and lazy.

2) A conviction that customers cannot be trusted.

3) A focus on policies, not principles.

4) An obsession with today, not tomorrow.

5) Leadership in all the wrong places.

When I hear managers say things like:

“We’re not here to make people happy, we’re here to get them to work!” or

“Forget ‘best place to work’ — you should be glad you have a job!”

It’s information that usually points to a flailing (if not failing) project, department, or company.

Of course, managers (and others in corporations) aren’t responsible for making people happy — we can’t make others happy.

But when everyone is unhappy, it’s information about the system and how people in the system handle problems.

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