• "Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King

• If it ain’t broke…BREAK IT! and Other Unconventional Wisdom for a Changing Business World. Author: Robert J. Kriegel. Publisher: The Business Library. Learn to unlock the creative thinker in yourself, to work smarter, not harder, to explore new and different paths.

• www.scambusters.com Check out all the latest Internet scams before you get caught. You can also check on the validity of many of the Urban Legends that abound, rather than sending emails of support to what may seem like a compassionate case, when in fact it’s just another internet hoax.

I’m sure you all would have seen them. Posters, magazine centrefolds, other photo’s torn out of magazines, newspaper cartoons, website printouts and a variety of stickers all plastered around the walls of business premises. At the time of these items being ‘stuck’ on the walls, there was obviously something about the photo or caption that attracted the attention or greatly amused the person doing so. In other instances, it was a staff member’s way of covertly ‘sticking-it-up’ management, or sometimes the reverse, management’s way of having a swipe at employees.

"Firings will continue until morale improves."

"Employees not fired with enthusiasm will be fired with enthusiasm."

These sorts of messages on company walls, whilst temporarily amusing and minutely clever in their construction, are totally inappropriate for any modern organisation, as are any posters that create division between people, whether it be on grounds of rank, age, gender, race, politics or religion.

One of the worst kind of inappropriate wall adornments is the widespread practice of displaying nude calendars and magazine centrefolds of naked women in predominantly ‘blue collar’ workplaces.

Now, I am not suggesting that these calendars or magazines should be banned. As a strong advocate for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, I have no problem with people reading or viewing such magazines in their own private domains. What I have a problem with is that the display of these posters is not for private use, but rather they are intended for public voyeurism. The continued display of such posters helps perpetuate the belief of many men that women exist primarily for their sexual pleasure. I encourage all organisations to ban the display of such posters.

Another tradition in many organisations is the prominent display of the company’s "mission" or "vision" statement in their respective reception areas. Adopting this practice is fine, PROVIDED that the statement is a 100% congruent with the actions and behaviour of the organisation. Sadly, all that publicly displaying most vision statements does is create derision and cynicism amongst staff who know that what the company espouses is 180 degrees juxtaposed to their experience of daily reality. The same applies for displaying framed posters advocating ‘teamwork’, ‘customer service’, leadership’, ‘persistence’, ‘vision’ etc.etc.

As most customers are generally interested in learning as much as possible about the organisation they are dealing with, it is a good idea to display photos of staff, vehicles and buildings, projects that the company has been involved in, and any awards that the company or its staff have been successful in receiving. A variation of this is a speaking colleague of mine who has a map on his wall that indicates every place that he has spoken in.

One idea that you may choose to try, where appropriate, is to hire various artworks or framed photos which are available from libraries and office equipment hire companies. The good thing about hiring them is that they can be changed or rotated on a regular basis.

Until next week, many happy customer returns!

Graham Harvey APS