As a brief introduction of myself, I self-publish books of illustrations
used my managers worldwide. The general theme has been Square Wheels and
I just finished the Square Wheels of Managing Productivity Improvement
that was sent off the the printer last week.
The next book is on Teamwork and I'm intending to add the focus of
whitewater and use of various illustrations including rowing shells, rafts
and kayaks. We'll have The Mud Metaphor included, alligators and sharks
also. The theme of an 8-oared shell with cox (leadership) is one I've
used for many years, with the cox being the only one who sees ahead and
the need for coordinated rowing on the part of the 8.
One series shows them ready to race, rowing like crazy (but uncoordinated
so all one sees is splashing) and the last cartoon shows a few out of the
boat but no progress whatsoever in relation to the starting buoy. The
last one has the one oar and 8 megaphones (and I'm reminded of the joke
about the race between the Japanese and the Americans, with the
consultant).
Another set has them rowing ahead, only they go over the falls backwards
(3 mile / hr progress in a 4 mile / hr river!). And the cox isn't paying
attention to the feedback from the rowers who see the danger.
I've even got the boats on a trailer, being pulled and pushed (with the
trailer rolling on Square Wheels).
What would be really helpful are some ideas about teams and the use of
metaphor. Any ideas and themes would be quite helpful and I'll give
credit where due as well as share a copy of the book with the people who
add value to the contents,
For the Fun of It!
--Scott Simmerman Performance Management Company, 3 Old Oak Drive, Taylors SC USA 29687-6624 74170.1061@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>