Singing the Corporate Blues

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout
and wrote some blues."
-- Duke Ellington

If any of you missed last week's message about singing the corporate Blues, it's archived at the address below:
http://www.thinksmart.com/wakeupbrainarchive/apr242000.html

Thanks to everyone who played with this topic and actually wrote some blues!

From: DPRICE, DPRICE@ddiworld.com
In answer to your first question, I think unsung corporate blues = decreased motivation x increased apathy x lack of productivity (it's all exponential).

Singing the corporate blues gets it out on the table to be addressed (at the very least, acknowledged or, at the most, corrected as much as possible) vs. supressing it all. I think some organizations suffer from Pollyanna leadership or authoritarian arrogance (WE know best.)

"Supressing it all" means "all"--including feelings, energy, enthusiasm...some of the biggest contributors to creativity and innovation in my book. You can get people in a room, and just about everyone can come up with ideas, but if no one cares enough to implement them...

The irony of needing to overcome supressing it all is that I just spent Easter weekend with family, and the universal feelings of everyone (who were coming from all walks of life and all different professions) was:

Wanna keep my job, so I'm keepin' my mouth shut.
Wanna keep my job, no "ifs" "ands" or "buts."
But as soon as I can get another, I'm outta this rut.

From: Tamara_Kizer@amway.com
1. .... If a corporation has anything from sky to royal blues unsung, there are minimally communication issues somewhere in the org. chart. Solving problems or listening to the blues leads to positive actions, relief or a sense of corporate family caring.
2. .... When there is open communication, people from all areas of a corporation feel free to offer solutions and ideas to problems that maybe unseen or unspoken in a more rigid environment. Ideas filtering up as well as down make for a more effective innovative or creative workplace.
3. .... Reorganization, restructuring call it what you will Reorganization, globalization gives most the chills Two years, two major changes and still can't figure out how to pay the bills....

From: Roninmktg@aol.com
1. How do the unsung corporate blues hinder creativity and innovation?

They may be unsung, but they are not unexpressed. The corporate blues are always expressed -- maybe tonelessly -- kind of like a rap song (a.k.a. The Bitch and Moan Rap). Maybe in the ubiquitous but rarely noticed Dance of the Zombies (a.k.a. The Corporate Shuffle). And when you think about it, why do we have "Happy Hour" which immediately follows the work day? If all those folks, gathering at the bar after work, isn't a mass expression of the corporate blues, then what is?

....Hmmm, how about rush hour and road rage?

2. How could singing the corporate blues actually boost creativity and innovation?

Asking people to directly confront their unhappiness and fears in the workplace is "serious shit" (I believe that is the correct technical term). If you take a serious, somber approach to dealing with the corporate blues (e.g., the always welcomed employee survey methodology -- after all, surveys are "scientific") you are merely adding more manure to the pile.

But if we listen to the wisdom of Al Fahden who preaches that innovation often comes from doing the opposite of what others are doing...then SINGING the corporate blues is the opposite and should cure the problem! (Fahden, you genius!)

Hey, if people keep expressing their misery in the same old way, day in and day out, they lose the capacity to see their situation in new ways. And hence they lose the capacity to see new ways out of their misery. Also, the continual expression of misery in the same fashion causes the blues to deteriorate into boredom which complicates the matter. For boredom we have to bring in an entirely different team of consultants...

But if people are taught to express their misery in new and "exciting" ways (okay, "exciting" and "misery" together may be an oxymoron but that's not my problem) then maybe, must maybe, innovative ways might emerge to overcome misery.

3. If you were to distill your own corporate blues down to one stanza, what would it be?

"I got dem' no good, soul robbing, mind numbing, nip at your heels, chap your ass, ruin my day, ruin my week, ruin my life consulting blues.
"I got dem' no good, soul robbing, mind numbing, nip at your heels, chap your ass, ruin my day, ruin my week, ruin my life consulting blues.

"While my clients debate and hesitate and cogitate and show up late and still can't choose."

Allen (Blind Lemon Jell-O) Liff
Dem ain't the just the blues, dem the way things are!

From: "Gilson, Kevin R.", KGilson@sierramilitary.com
The technique that you report on, singing the corporate blues, is a continuation of the popular Dilbert approach to venting about things that your company does that seems idiotic or nonproductive. However, remember that in doing this kind of activity you are really giving power to what you do NOT want to happen! While it may temporarily blow off steam, it is really a form of destructive self-fulfillment -- you know, the self-fulfilling prophesy. When you finish singing the blues you are still left with your blues and nothing has changed -- you have empowered your complaints. When I end a training session, or when you see those customer service cards in restaurants, the questions always asked are like: What went well? What could we do to improve? How would you rate us? You never see: What went wrong? Why? Because when you do you are left with a litany of "blues" about which you can do nothing. To be truly innovative we should ask people to sing, "What should we be doing differently that would make a difference?"

From: Chris Raudenbush, CRAUDENB@ngwmail.des.state.mn.us
Oh, that's great! I know what that is. Music is my river to sanity. It's hard sometimes for me to talk about my feelings- I have a difficult time trusting people sometimes- but music almost always works, if I have an instrument in proximity.

From: James Harris, tech_imp@yahoo.com
Great topic!

1. How do the unsung corporate blues hinder creativity and innovation?

One thing that I have noticed at the company I work for; is that it is conflict adverse. Now I'm not saying that I'm a fan of conflict but sometimes being conflict adverse prevents you from having to address problems quickly.

2. How could singing the corporate blues actually boost creativity and innovation?

I could see that by using a 'blues approach' it may not address a hot issues directly on.

I'm dying to try this but will need to find the right time and place to float this concept -- people around here think I'm wacky enough as it is. :')

3. If you were to distill your own corporate blues down to one stanza, what would it be?

Gotta move fast, evolve or die,
Gotta move fast, evolve or die,
Need to do something different, gotta not be afraid to
try.

Daaaa duuu dummp!

From: "Giampoli, Debra", dgiampoli@kraft.com
Great post this week. (And I really enjoyed this at C2K). Here are my answers to your questions:

1) Unsung blues hinder creativity. They undeniably influence (or even define) the culture. By leaving the hindrances unsung, they remain unacknowledged and unaddressed.

2) Singing them can boost creativity by bringing them out into the open where they can be acknowledged, laughed at, taken less seriously. Sometimes just labeling an issue can set about a whole chain of activities that lead toward its resolution.

3) At Kraft, I got the "We-won't-fund-it-if-you-can't-prove-it-blues". Makes it really really hard to get anything approved that isn't very similar to what we've already done. Gotta know the results of something, and be able to prove it, or it isn't going to get funded (or the funding gets approved and then pulled at the first sign of profit pressure).

From: Jerina Malesevic, jerina.malesevic@zg.tel.hr
We are playing seek and hide when it comes to law
We are playing seek and hide when it comes to law
it is blues when it comes to paying...
( made in a law office )

From: Ross Wirth, rwirth@entarga.com
This validates my feeling that talking about problems is therapeutic and not only surfaces the hidden issues but lets people know they are not alone in their situation. However, there is also a sizeable number of people who feel that talking about problems only makes things worse because the individuals become fixated on the problems and expect management to correct the situation. When no management action occurs (which is another issue) disillusionment sets in and morale drops.

From: Big, bigwayne19@home.com
---------- Bikers are hairy . . .
bikers are hairy . . .
working together can often seem scary . . .

----------- helmet laws suck . . .
helmet laws suck . . .
gettin' 'em annulled ain't no fat duck . . .

----------- traffic is nasty . . .
traffic is nasty . . .
i save gas, i save space, parking is always a piece of cake!

If you want to learn more about singing the blues in your organization, please email Andrea Woodward at andrea@thinksmart.com or Ruth Ann Hattori at CreativeIQ@aol.com.