Saturday, August 04, 2007

Teamwork - It's More than just a Word



Those of you who know me understand me already for the goose-stepping company man who makes his daily commute with a smile on his face. In spite of that quality of mine, I sometimes find myself thinking of the large framed poster above the stair landing at work. It has an inspiring little message about teamwork under a picture of a section of the Great Wall of China, a man-made landmark that can be seen from outer space by the naked eye - built and improved for thousands of years by slave labor. Does anyone but me sense some incongruity here? I understand that the poster is supposed to catch up the viewer in the majesty of the image and cause him to think, "Wow! If we work together we could turn [this company] (or whatever) into an monument of unimagined proportions." Well, lets bust out the cat-o-nine tails and see who doesn't want to be a part of the team. Who in sieg hail would pay money for that, much less hang it for their, um, workers(?) to see? I've gone on about it as if it really upsets me, but it doesn't. The people who see that poster everyday probably don't know enough about history to know that they are being jacked with, so everyone is happy, motivated, and enjoying the cool picture of the Great Wall hanging above the landing. As for me, I've finished another semester - still waiting back on the results of that - and I've finished some more audio-books on my commute. I will be posting my thoughts on them soon. As far behind as I am on my posts, I may just do one post that addresses all of them, but I might not. They all certainly deserve their own post. So look for that soon, and write on.

R.

4 comments:

Ing said...

That's pretty funny. I love those parody posters that take exactly these kind of inspiring photos and pair them with catchphrases like "FAILURE: Stepping stones are merely stumbling blocks in disguise." I have a whole book of miserable sayings like that, in fact.

What makes this poster so great is that it's telling more truth than its makers ever intended, and almost no one realizes it. Makes me really look forward to joining the team again tomorrow at work. :)

Karl said...

Wow, that perfectly sums up my experience with and perception of the corporate world: disguised slavery that most people don't even recognize without a little outside education and perspective. At least your company cares enough to provide an inspiring beautiful picture for you!

For some true inspiring stuff on the theme of Ing's comment, head to www.despair.com. Really funny stuff.

Ben said...

Ha! That really tickles my funny bone, and I mean in that really painful way when you actually slam your elbow into something hard and your whole arm hurts for ten minutes. Teamwork. I need to get that poster for my office at work.

blueayes82 said...

LOL...isn't that all a J.O.B. is, or as we refer to it, just over broke...otherwise known as slavery? Very intriguing, isn't it?