Anecdote
on demotivational posters in the workplace
A
certain young entrepreneur who owned a software development business was
bothered by the poor level of staff motivation. Profits were dropping, morale
was low, dedication seemed non-existent. The entrepreneur was so worried that he
flew all the way to Japan to learn about their chauvinistic approach to
business. Little of what he learnt seemed to be of any use, and neither were the
motivational trainings organized for his employees in which top motivational
speakers were invited. He once took the entire company to the North Pole for
dinner, thinking this would help turn things around but, alas! the only thing
that seemed to be changing rapidly was the company's accounts which was close to
the red.
The
entrepreneur was bothered and wondered what else he could do. Fire all the staff
and employ new ones? That was out of the question for some of the staff had been
in the company for over three years and possessed much needed skills that would
be difficult to find elsewhere. Hang motivational posters in all offices? This
had been done already with no noticeable effect. Enraged and desolate, the
entrepreneur came close to the brink of closing the business down and calling
the entire venture a failure.
One
day, while visiting a client to sign a business deal for the development of a
new database software, the entrepreneur noticed a strange looking poster on the
wall in the client's office with the words "Elitism: It's lonely at the
top. But it's comforting to look down on everyone at the bottom" set to a
photograph in which a lone eagle flow above clouds and mountains. "Quite a
nice poster" said the entrepreneur? "O" replied the client
"my silly old demotivational poster." "Demotivational
poster" he thought to himself, "perhaps this was the category of
posters he needed in the workplace." After signing the business deal, he
inquired from the client where he could obtain posters such as this and as soon
as he got back to the office requested a catalog from the dealing company.
The
next day, the catalog arrived and the entrepreneur took his time to select
twenty of what he thought to be the best demotivational posters from the pack,
each related to a particular employee, and placed an order for them. Within two
weeks they arrived and after closing hours, he stayed behind and silently placed
them in every office next to the already present motivational posters - one in
each office.
The
employees arrived the next day for work as usual. Indeed everyone was shocked to
find strange looking posters in their offices. And they all thought it was some
kind of expensive joke which one of them was playing. The entrepreneur pretended
as though he hadn't a clue as to who placed the demotivational posters in the
offices but gave in after so much joke as to their contents. He told the
employees that he felt they needed to have more fun and jollity in the
workplace. Perhaps, he said these posters could help, while at the same time
reminding them to work hard.
The
employees seemed to get the message. The entrepreneur was not too happy with
them over their persistent lack of performance and though he often complained,
he never took any action save for the motivational conferences and trip to the
North pole. And now, here comes these demotivational posters! But like a joke,
the demotivational posters worked the miracle they were expected to. More fun
was brought to the workplace as the employees chattered over the contents of the
posters. And as for productivity, well, it did not quite hit the ceiling but the
company doubled its clients in just six months and for the first time in two
years was able to meet up with all client deadlines and increase its assets,
savings and staff salary. Couldn't be better.
October
2004
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