With spittle flying, lips quivering and hands pounding out the cadence of the passion, we wax eloquent about…nothing.
            I am of the opinion that the most unproductive time in anyone’s work day is the minutes, hours and even days we spend prognosticating on things over which we have no control.
            As a consultant, most focus groups have I lead began with “I’ll tell you why we have problems around here.  The people at the top are making far too much money compared with the actual work they do.  If this organization was smart, they would clean house at the top and pay their replacements a reasonable salary for what they do.”
            I normally then ask the question, “Are there any of you who has decision-making authority when senior management salaries are decided?”
            There is silence and then someone will bluster in with, “No, but you know what, the people in the heavenly realms of this place should get their pink slips.”
            Then I ask, “Is there anyone in this room who has the positional power to terminate any of the executives?”
            Do you see where I am going?
            If it is not senior management salaries, it is the placement of “Employee of the Month” signage, it is the new co-pay in the health care benefits or it is whether or not the towel dispensers in the restrooms will be the crank type or the wave-in-front-of-the-red-light genre…flapping jaws over what you cannot control is the worst waste of time.
            But, and is this not true, commiserating is preferable to working.  Yes, here is the reward.
            If we can expend a great deal of energy, time and get all sweaty over the problem-du-jour, then we have put in “an honest day’s work.”
            Every organization is pyramidal.  There are individuals above us who make decisions that affect us.  They pass down these decisions through distribution e-mail lists, four-color promotional brochures and departmental meetings.  We do get the message.
            The problem is we do not like the message so we act out our opposition by  constructing a dais at the next coffee break, huddle in an obscure hallway with the membership of the damned or hijack a process team meeting with diatribes of despair.
            What a waste!
            So, I am recommending the following agenda for any organization that wants to improve productivity (and the resulting bottom line) by eliminating vaporous verbiage that does not have a prayer of changing anything.
            First, senior management needs to establish “safe zones” between frontline management and employees where opinion can be communicated without the threat of reprisals.  You see, coffee-break-bashing is a passive-aggressive response from people who view themselves as without choices for expression.
            This “safe zone” comes with accountability.  The employee gets one chance to express himself and then it is time to go back to work.  Perpetually grinding the same ax is not acceptable.

            Second, frontline management needs to be taught the skills of respectful confrontation.  Someone’s boss should be able to break into a conversation and say, “I am convinced that none of us at our level of responsibility can change this situation.  Therefore, I am expecting we will all now get back to work.”
Is that not the bottom line?  Why should management have to apologize for making that statement?
Finally, a regular performance appraisal process is a proactive, positive forum for expressing a panorama of thoughts, data and opinion.  This is a natural way for an employee to measure his progress and passion against where the organization is going. 
If you are reading this article and working in an organization that regularly raises the bar by challenging a workplace to do more with less, here is a simple suggestion for increasing productivity:  only spend time on those things you can control.