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Early along my career path I was in the advertising industry as a copywriter and then a creative director. We usually had to have ‘copy’ approved by ‘legal’. Often we had to add a disclaimer on the bottom of a printed page or placed on the bottom of the screen of a TV commercial. Something that has always agitated me was how misleading advertisements could be. Ads can get your attention, while often presenting something seemingly irresistible, yet when you read the fine print, you see that the offer isn’t that great. The offer or sale may only be available at ‘participating location’ or ‘while supplies last. There may be some qualifying conditions, or it may be limited to specific days, or other restrictions or restraints. It seems that disclaimers provide the advertisera back door or a way out. But wait…I can’t even read the fine print without substantial magnification. And when watching a TV commercial the disclaimer fades-in and then fades-out so fast I can barely make out the first few words. What’s the point? If it is to comply with some F.C.C. rule, what is it? Seems to me this more of the same in our culture…we often do as little as we can just to get by!
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A lot of the work I’ve been doing lately with organizations involves questioning the status-quo, challenging assumptions and looking at ‘things’ from different perpsectves. Recently I was working with a leadership group and we were discussing employee engagement, commitment and loyalty. I asked the group how they know an employee is really committed to working at their company. Upon further inquiry, I asked if an employee really wants to impress their boss and demonstrate how productive they are, when do they show up to work? When do they leave. Without hesitation they responded “they show up before the boss and leave after”. This particular point-of-view (POV) has its roots from a paradim that the more you work the more productive you are. In today’s workplaces including virtual work environments or remote working, people create this same perception by sending/reading emails at all hours. Haven’t you checked your email late at night or first thing in the morning only to notice when someone sent you a message and think to yourself, “…you gotta get a life!…”. Some have figured out how to time delay sending their messages to appear that they were working until all hours of the night. What if you adopted a POV that the less you do the more productive you are? Parkinson’s Law is the adage that “work expands to fill the time available.” That means if you have a 1/2 hour task and you have 3 hours to get it done, how long will it take? Typically 3 hours or more. You can see how easily this came to be from the industrial era when workers needed to ‘clock-in’, do their work, and then ‘clock-out’. It wasn’t dependent on what got accomplished it was based on filling the time. That’s where the concept 9-5 came from and where time wasters cam from standing around the water cooler or taking a coffee or cigaratte break. Many companies are now focused on creating Results-Oriented Work Environments (ROWE) that focus on accomplishing results…it’s about time.
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The other day I was filling out a form (yes, long hand!) and I made a mistake and had to fix it. I had a ’senior moment’ when I found myself in a quandary of what to do. My first ‘ah-shucks’ reaction was to print out another form and start over. Then my long term memory kicked in and I heard my voice say ”Wite Out.” I looked in my desk drawer but to no avail. I buzzed my assistant and asked if she had any and her response was more alarming…’white out…what’s that…oh yeah….I haven’t used that in years….hold on”. She them sent out an IM to everyone that was online (I still haven’t figured out yet how to send an IM to a whole group) but no one had any. I remember when we had correction tape in our typewriters and the sheets we used before Wite Out hit the market. Now it’s as simple as using Spell/Grammer check, Cute & Paste, or simply hit the bakspace key.
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Welcome to HonkinTonkin! This is a blog for insightful & useful perspectives, innovative & forward thinking, inspiring stories, and no-nonsense, hands-on information for business and life. I invite you to participate, share, comment and shout out loud!
Leo Tonkin
CEO of Distinctions, Inc.
www.distinctionsinc.com