<$MTBlogName$

« Is It Time To Bring Out The Wrecking Ball? | Main | The Meek(er) Shall Inherit The Earth »

Zombie Crawl

By Art van Bodegraven | 10/24/2013 | 8:47 AM

Denver is among a growing list of cities featuring a festive night out for anyone who is up to dressing up (or down, as the case may be) as if auditioning for a walk-on role in The Living Dead (or Grimm).  My challenge, as I pushed my way through the throng of ghost brides and their bandaged and bloody consorts, was distinguishing the revelers from the "regular" street people in that portion of the Mile High downtown.

On a side note, "Mile High" has taken on new meaning in the wake of decriminalization of personal consumption quantities of marijuana.  Who let the doobies out, one wonders.  Naturally, it is only a short segue from these observations to some thought about organizational cultures and workforces.

Sadly, it is not rare to find zombie workforces, with staff lurching, limping, and straggling in at the beginning of the day.  They may not be sporting horrific scars od fresh axe wounds, but there is a ,look on their unsmiling faces that brings a dose of prudence to even the most rash among us.

But, the trance state does not last forever.  Come five o'clock, the morbid horde springs magically to life.  Smiling, laughing, moving with purpose, they bolt for the parking lots and bus stops.  A genuine milagro, don't you think?

So, the question of the day may be: Do you have a zombie workforce?  If so, the next - and more important - question is: Do you know how they got that way?  The odds are that they are not evil at the core, plotting the enterprise's ruin day and night.  Something or somebody is sucking the life out of them every single day.

Payback time comes as the economy continues its painfully slow recovery.  The best and the brightest of the zombies will move on to places where they can be alive all day, performing, contributing, and making their new employers fierce competitors and winners.  Their replacements are not likely to offer a fresh start on zombie-dom.  There is an option, though.

Can you transform your organization into a zombie-free zone?  Can you make it a place where associates come to get something done and make a difference?  Or, are you a carrier (no, not a truck), harboring and transmitting the zombie virus that ruins poeple and can kill entire organizations?

 

TrackBack (0)

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a0120a4de92fb970b019b00464fae970d

Comments

bbb

By submitting your comments, you agree to our Terms of Service.

The opinions expressed herein are those solely of the participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of Agile Business Media, LLC., its properties or its employees.

About Art van Bodegraven

Art van Bodegraven

Art van Bodegraven (1939 - 2017) was Managing Principal of the van Bodegraven Associates consultancy and Founding Principal of Discovery Executive Services, which develops and delivers supply chain educational programs. He was formerly Chair of the Supply Chain Group AG, Partner at The Progress Group LLC, Development Executive at CSCMP, Practice Leader with S4 Consulting, and a Managing Director in Coopers & Lybrand's consulting practice. Concentrating in supply chain management and logistics for over 20 years in his 50+ year business career, he has led ground-breaking strategic, operational, and educational projects for leading US and global clients. Art was principal co-author of DC Velocity's Basic Training monthly column for a decade, and was the principal co-author, with Ken Ackerman, of Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management, the definitive primer in the field. His popular blog, The Art of Art, has been a staple of DC Velocity's web site since its inception.



Categories

Popular Tags

Recent Comments

Subscribe to DC Velocity

Subscribe to DC Velocity Start your FREE subscription to DC Velocity!

Subscribe to DC Velocity
Renew
Go digital
International