Sorry, not a big fan of the whole Geico commercial series (though ABC thinks so highly of it that they’re willing to give the concept it’s own series…but I digress). But it seems terribly appropriate for what’s passing for management philosophy at Circuit City these days.

Andy Wibbels spots this one for us:

The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers — immediately — and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible. The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company’s total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said. “We haven’t done something called (a) wage management initiative before,” said company spokesman Jim Babb. “All companies at one time or another need to go through and make sure their cost structure works with market conditions.” (emphasis by Andy)

All I can think is…are you frakking kidding me? So, Mr. Philip J. Schoonover, CEO (salary $ 1.42M) or Mr. Michael E. Foss, CFO (salary $1.02M), this is your latest clever idea of how to better your company’s bottom line? To take your most knowledgeable and capable people and replace them with anyone willing to start for peanuts? Allow me to paint a personal picture. When I know exactly what I want to buy in terms of electronics, games, cds, dvds, etc, I can go practically anywhere that gives me the lowest price. But when I need help understanding the various options of a mobile dvd system or digital camera and then making an informed purchase, I want an experienced salesperson to help me. God knows that Best Buy and Wal-Mart doesn’t have them, but I’ve always found one at Circuit City. Sirs, that is your competitive advantage in the marketplace. And now it appears you are willing to pitch all that in order to salvage your bottom line. Welcome back to the sad world of mediocrity. Too bad you have lot’s of company there.

Many thanks to John for pointing me to an older post from Alexander Kjerulf at Chief Happiness Officer. I must have missed this when I was on my fall hiatus.

One of the guiding themes behind workplay is cultivating a playful workplace. This isn’t just about creating a working environment where people enjoy what they do. It’s also about creating workspaces that match the need for creativity and inspiration that are essential for success. If you think about it, it’s rather naive to expect a lot of fresh insights and ideas when you’re sitting in a gray cubicle, surrounded by white walls and neutral colored flooring. Which is why I was happy to come across Alexander’s examples of organizations who seem to understand the connection between space and creativity. As he writes:

Physical space matters. It’s easier to be productive, creative and happy at work in a colourful, organic, playful environment than in a grey, linear, boring one.

Exactly. Here’s his post and flickr set.

So, so perhaps you’re thinking, “Hey, this is a pretty good idea. Our folks need a more stimulating, engaging workspace. Where do I start?” Good question. Glad you asked. Here’s some ideas to get us started.

Pimp the Office Day
So, you have boring, white walls throughout your office space. Time to liven them up and what better or easier way to do than through a new paint job. Go to your local home improvement store and pick up some paint. Get employees involved in selecting colors, even themes for different areas of the workspace. Then, tell your customers that the office is closing for a day, turn off the phones, computers, etc, and go to work.

Why stop at just walls? Time to pimp out those mind-draining conference rooms. Need some inspiration? Check out Alexander’s more recent post: 12 Ways to Pimp Your Office. The point here is to start getting folks involved in building their own creative spaces.

Work on Wheels
Even if you have a stimulating environment, it’s hard to be creative if you’re stuck in the same place in the office floor plan day after day. One way to bring out the creative juices is to change your scenery. So, rather than an office space of fixed cubicles, turn your most valuable creative assets loose by giving them the freedom to roam. Give them laptops with wireless connections. toss out the cubes for more free-floating kiosk-like tables. Put file cabinets on wheels. Whatever it takes to get them up and moving around.

Org Chart Milkshake
Creativity doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Sparks of creativity are also generated by shifts in thinking and being around folks who are different from us. So, shake up that floor plan by creating workspace pods where each person is from a different department. In nearly every organization, people are clumped together by their function: marketers sit together, salesfolks sit together, account managers sit together…you get the picture. This may have made sense in the days prior to IMs, emails, and videoconferencing. Now, we tend to do it because it’s mindlessly ingrained in our business thinking. Time to get mindful again. If your organization appears to be siloed and you can’t figure out why, take one good look at where folks sit every day.

There are many more ideas out there. If your organization does something cool and innovative to shake up its office space, I’d love to hear it. The one thing we all need are more business cases to prove what we intuitively know: Workspace matters when it comes to being creative, stimulated, and engaged in our work, which is always good for the bottom line.

Boomerang, Cartoon Network’s retro channel for old cartoons, decided to connect St. Patrick’s Day with Gazoo, the snarky, little green alien on The Flintstones. In one episode, Fred gets tired of being kicked around by his boss and asks Gazoo for help. Gazoo’s suggestion? Why don’t you try to be boss for a day. Great idea, right? Fred thinks so. He thinks a boss’s job is all about spying on him (particularly when Fred is at his laziest), smoking fine cigars, eating a lavish lunch in the executive cafeteria, and generally keeping him down. He soon finds out the Mr. Slate isn’t actually the big boss, but the underling of the chairman of the company board of directors. And man…Mr. Slate’s life must really suck.

The Great Gazoo taught our guy Fred some interesting lessons.

1. No matter how far up the ladder we are in an organization, we always report to someone. That’s the fallacy of the increasingly anachronistic hierarchical org chart. So perhaps a better way to think of this is that we are always responsible for something or someone else. Even a CEO is responsible to her Board, as well as her employees; responsible for the welfare of the organization.

2. The management life isn’t a walk on the beach. When I first started working, I remember how much I pined for a management gig. I wanted the power and privilege without fully comprehending the responsibilities that naturally tagged along. Eventually, I got that management gig and I know now how challenging, frustrating, inspiring, and overwhelming that just being a good manager can be. I can now look upon my own manager and company executives with a sense of empathy.

Here’s a thought: what would happen if organizations would allow employees and managers to swap work for a day? For a week? It might just change a few perspectives.

3. Find appreciation for whatever work you do. At the end of the episode, Fred finally gets to go home. He’s exhausted and dispirited. Gazoo decides that Fred has experienced enough and returns him to his normal life. Once he gets home, Wilma says she has supper warmed up for him and he’s just in time to tuck Pebbles in. It’s here that Fred realizes that he’s got it pretty good. Too bad his taste of management is so sour.

Hope you’re wearing your green today.

Update 05.15.07: Yes, the twitterings to the right are for real. After taking a good look at twitter, I now see it has potential for good as well as minor evil. That’ll teach me to go off on a rant without fully understanding the source of the rant. Lesson learned.

I try not to go off-theme too often, but there are times when I simply can’t help it. Particularly when common sense seems to get trumped by the latest fad. Okay, here we go…

How do you know when all this beautiful web 2.o stuff has gone too far? When something like Twitter becomes the Next Great Thing.

Want to know if someone’s having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Ask Twitter.

Want to tell everyone you know that you had a bad bean burrito and now you’re stuck in the bathroom praying to the porcelain god? Go tell Twitter.

Bored with life or work and have nothing else better to do? Get Twitter now.

Sorry everyone. I just don’t get it. Am I missing something? Is the need to know what someone is doing every second just that compelling? Have we become so enamored with reality television that we need to bring it to the web? And for the love of pete, who thinks their life is so damn interesting that we want to know about every move you make? Makes you wonder if there’s a reason that twitter starts with ‘twit.’

Please. I challenge someone (anyone) to make one solid argument in favor of Twitter. Else this has the makings of some wonderful satire.

Update 03.15.07: Oh no, Johnnie Moore has succumbed to the darkness of Twitter! Of course, not everyone in his circle is enamored with this development

Update 03.16.07: Kathy Sierra has a good analysis on what’s wrong with the (hopefully short-lived) Twitter phenomenon. And the anti-Twitters are coming out of the woodwork based on the comments.

It’s spring break for my girls and what better way to spend it but at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This will be Leah’s second trip and Katie’s first to the Magic Kingdom. This will be my third trip (first as a 7 year old, second and third as an adult) and it’s interesting to experience it again. It’s during this trip that I’m finally enjoying the park for what it is: a place where magic can happen. Yeah, I know…that’s rather naive and counter to the cynical notion of the corporate artificiality of Disney. But, magic can happen if we allow it.

As a kid, I remember being enchanted by the Swiss Family Treehouse located in Adventureland. What young boy wouldn’t want to live in a huge treehouse? Now, as an adult, I tried to relive that magic, but it was strange. The whole experience was just climbing steps to the top and seeing the Robinson’s sleeping quarters, a dining room, and a sitting room. I kept wondering if that was all there was. And for me, that was really all there was.

This morning, my wife got an email from a friend of hers who lives with multiple sclerosis. In their communication, Caroline mentioned that we climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse and her friend offered a whole new perspective on this place in the Magic Kingdom. Turns out that she was told she couldn’t climb the treehouse due to her condition. She laughed and replied that that was all she needed to hear. She got out of her wheelchair, slowly climbed to the top, took a few minutes to savor her personal victory, and then slowly descended to the bottom.

I can’t help but see that treehouse in a whole new light.

In the Bailey home, Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day has established itself as an annual tradition. For at least three or four months, Leah (age eight) has been asking me when our “Daddy/Daughter Work Day” is this year and if we’ll be able to do it again. The answer, of course, is, “Absolutely!” Katie, my youngest, is quickly closing in on five years old and is starting to ask when she’ll be able to do this, as well. I’ll probably schedule a shorter day with her later in the summer.

There are a few reasons for it’s popularity. One is that it’s a special daddy-only time which is important since I’m not as available to them as their mom during the day. Two is that it’s an intentionally fun day spent outside of school. Three is that it’s a chance to see and experience a world they only hear about.

What do I get out of it? Quite a lot. It’s a chance to share in my daughters’ excitement of spending time together in a unique way. Also, when I get to share my work experience with my them, it helps me crystallize my own sense of whether work is meaningful or not. It’s hard to fake fulfillment in soulless work and for me the whole purpose of the day is to encourage them to think about finding work that’s fulfilling for them. Anyway, kids can sense those sorts of lies and ask the most honest and pointed questions that drill down to the heart of our own work. Interesting how our children can help coaches us without even knowing it.

Wondering what you can do to make it a fulfilling and enjoyable day for both you and your child? The folks who manage the day, Ms. Foundation For Women, have some tips and provide a sample day on their website.

Start by contacting your child’s teacher and see if she or he has anything planned surrounding the day. If they don’t know about Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day, then introduce them to the concept and ask whether they’d be interested in learning more. Don’t be afraid to track the principal down and do the same for them. Make sure they understand that it’s not just an excused absence from school, but an experiential learning day.

Next, check and see if your workplace has anything planned for the day. Some companies have some structured activities planned, which is great to find that type of buy-in. And if not, talk to the folks in human resources, and again, emphasize the importance of sponsoring workshops or other events. If you don’t find any sympathetic ears, don’t fret…just do it anyway and plan things on your own. This is what I had to do in my last two organizations.

Need some help building activities? Here’s a listing along with pdf worksheets and an interactive online activity.

I’m interested in learning if anyone else has plans for April 27 and what you’re doing. Bring your ideas and questions to the WorkPlay community.

Even though I’m technically out of the non-profit association world, I still like to check in frequently with friends and other folks who keep this vital area of our working world moving. Over at the association for association professionals (ASAE) they have a blog called Acronym. To work in associations is to understand why this particular blog name is rather clever and playful.

A couple of days ago, Lisa Junker noted an interview with Howard Gardner in the March 2007 Harvard Business Review where he talks about the influence of an anti-mentor. Gardner describes anti-mentors as “potential role models who had been unkind to their employees or who had shown behavior that others would not want to emulate.”

Lisa writes:

This struck a chord with me, and as I consider the idea, I’m surprised to realize how much of my personal management style has been shaped not by the good examples but by the bad ones. Many things I strive to do as a manager—like moving heaven and earth to do a review on time, or providing constructive feedback immediately when needed (in a private setting) instead of letting issues fester, to give just two examples—came about because I’ve seen the atmosphere that can be created when these basic things don’t happen.

Which prompted Lisa to ask: “What lessons can you thank your anti-mentors for?”

There’s quite a lot to consider in her question. The first is that, as employees, we are capable of being grateful for the examples of lousy management. Within that, there’s a certain release that from being in a less-than-optimal professional relationship. And we also gain a greater sense of control when we can acknowledge our own learning in these situations. This doesn’t excuse shoddy management practices and certainly nothing that creates toxic work environments, but by taking time to consider how situations of anti-mentorship are contributing to our own growth, we can turn some of this pain and discomfort to our own advantage. If nothing else, it teaches us we need to get the hell out of that organization as fast as humanly possible.

I also realize that it’s not quite as easy to throw my former managers and colleagues into the two separate buckets of mentors and anti-mentors. Each of them have their strengths as well as their flaws – all of which have contributed to my own practice of being a manager and leader. In our not quite so black and white world, it seems more appropriate to consider our past managers as human beings who have a mixed bag of qualities.

And rather than thinking we have to have it all together before we can possibly mentor someone, John West encourages us to just do it and do it now.