After the party

The Olympic party is over.

Parties, like holidays are amazing. They give release to most of the tensions that face our everyday life and remake the very person buried under the rubble of the "existence" we substitute for life.But parties and holidays come to an end and we are faced with the inevitable. Going back to work and earning a living.
For some returning to work is a pleasure. Its a return to grappling with problems and creating opportunities, its a sharing with colleagues and developing the aspirations of a team to create something of value.
Of course this pleasure is for the few and not the many.

Societies are very different in the way they handle human interaction and we, particularly in England are poor at inter connective team play. 


The English are known for being reserved, of hiding their emotions, the stiff upper lip syndrome, and we treat those around us with suspicion. Motives are manufactured where there are none, suspicion is common and we naturally protect our selves by being aloof. The work place can boil over with resentment and pettiness so that each day becomes a misery.When we are on holiday or at a party we open up to the new sights and sounds around us. We join in and share our experience with others, because we don't feel threatened. 

The pleasure of finding common ground, common interests, someone to expound to, is profound and in a well balanced individual it is the fertiliser for strong personal growth.
How can we transplant this rich source of human interactivity into the workplace.
I believe it begins with transparency and is fed from the top down. If the company becomes open and company knowledge and information is freely available then the employee doesn't feel the need to keep what they know to themselves. This is vital when collective, shared information is on tap and one is not having to reinvent the wheel, unfortunately people don't "share" because they feel that the knowledge they have provides a buffer for them to hide behind in the hierarchy of the office politic.

Only senior management can sweep away this sense that employees have about their "vulnerability", vis a vis their colleagues. Regular "shop floor", "office" meetings where staff are encouraged to contribute to the objectives of the whole company and where their incisive knowledge about a particular function in the collective running of the business is taken on board and acted upon. 

This is a "top down encouragement" and introduces staff to each other as "contributors" to a common end with hopefully the spoils of success being shared ?              
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