Employees must be free to question, to analyze, to investigate; and a company must be flexible enough to listen to the answers. Those habits are the key to longevity, growth, and profit.

Got a problem? Change. Still got a problem? Change again. Change has become the all-purpose solution.

Wisdom is what you get by asking why….”

Instead of signing up for motivation makeovers, they need a different job! You might rotate them to another position, have them work in a different office, ask them to participate more in project meetings, or find another way to work for you on a part-time, commission, or representative basis. We try all of these solutions at Semco, figuring that

Better to have six teams of six people each rather an unwieldy thirty-six member unit.

Besides, every one-year plan that I see has all the good things happening in the second half.

In the end, it’s an exchange that works: Out go mission statements, credos, and the control they exert; and in come self-interest, principles arising from practice, and a developing set of values. As control wanes, creativity and shared values bloom. An army that fights for what it believes in arises from this harvest of ideas, varied practices,

The first Human Resources departments date to the turn of the century and blossomed because managers were uncomfortable dealing with personnel issues. Over time, it became accepted that managers couldn’t recruit, train, place ads, hire headhunters, do career plans or employee reviews, and serve as an objective third party.

“a rolling stone gathers no moss.”