I remember the day my first born started to crawl. I met the moment with great excitement at first, followed by sheer terror! Our home was one big House of Horrors for a baby, and this realization exploded in my brain like an atomic bomb.
The day before he started to crawl, everything in the house was beautiful and perfect–but not anymore. Now that he could get around on his own, everything in the house was a potential danger. We realized the house was a Baby-harming psychopath, and we need to cover the entire place in bubble wrap!
Baby proofing our homes to protect our children is a necessity to keep our children safe until they are old enough to understand potential hazards. I would be concerned if we were still Baby Proofing when our children became teenagers and even young adults!
Recently I was working with a business to help their sales team. We brought our sales team in to work with them through the process, and after one day the GM pulled me into his office. He told me he was very concerned with the words and actions of our Sale’s Team.
This is the list that he and his HR person gave me which in his words were unacceptable in the work place:
- Joking around. Someone “MIGHT” get offended
- Putting your hand on another person – one sales person slapped the back of another for a big sale. Apparently you are NEVER allowed to touch.
- Telling one person yes and another no for the same request – he said everyone gets a trophy even those who did not perform the same as the one who won.
- Calling each other any kind of names – our sales team has pet names we use for each person. This also is “uncalled for” since it could be construed as insensitive to the person or might hurt the feelings of someone who happens to overhear the conversation and jump to a conclusion.
What they missed in the process is that our team has a lot of fun, loves each other, can’t wait to get to work each day and believes we are making a difference in the lives of those we serve!
Tell me why we have been baby Proofing the work place? Why are we treating our teams, employees and peers like infants in the work place? Why has the work place become ADULT NURSERY???????
We do NEED work place regulations and guidelines but only to the extent that we protect the Culture, NOT CONTROL the Culture!!!
If we try to CONTROL the Culture by over regulating, it stifles creativity, collaboration, connection and communication!
In short Baby Proofing a business will KILL it!
Find Your Passion and You Will Find Your Life!