A fire in a night club in Russia kills 112 people. Seems someone (the owner, manager and yes, the fire works provider!) decided it would be great fun to set off fireworks inside the club and the ceiling and other flammables caught fire. Coupled with apparently inadequate exiting, it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Reading the various news articles it seems that Russia is not completely devoid of fire codes. But as reported:

Reuters: “More than 15,000 people die each year in fires across Russia and senior officials acknowledge that fire inspections are routinely used as a way to demand bribes from establishments, rather than enforce safety rules.”

API: “Enforcement of fire safety standards is infamously poor in Russia and there have been several catastrophic blazes at drug-treatment facilities, nursing homes, apartment buildings and nightclubs in recent years.”

Early in my career I caught a re-enactment of a similar Boston Cocoanut Grove night club fire in 1942 that killed 492. In fact, so horrible was this fire that is it regarded as the catalyst for our current US fire codes. Though there is a country-wide Universal Fire Code, each municipality is allowed to enact their own stronger, additional codes. To this day, Boston remains one of the cities with the strictest fires codes.  

Cocoanut Grove Fire - Boston Globe File Photo

Now I’m not a control person. But some things are just about sanity. In this area I come down on the side of our poor code enforcement people. In the office environment this job often falls on the facility manager.  Their job is a hard one.  Over the years I have heard these people called many expletives, including the office Gestapo and furniture Nazis, as they try to hinder fellow employees from moving around the cube partitions, completely covering the panels with flammables such as paper and non-fire retardant materials, to dumping furniture they didn’t want out of their offices and into the exit corridors.

There are rules and codes governing the placement of these things, mostly around safe exiting during fire or other disasters and fire prevention. Knowledge of these rules is not up to you. That is why there is such a thing as a Facilities Professional. They don’t do this for the fun of it or to make your day miserable. And they can’t do the job alone. They know that you, the employee, can’t be expected to have all the knowledge they do. But you can have the knowledge of personal responsibility and your part in the safety system. Think before you act. Ask others before you endanger them and your self.

If you still don’t feel you have any responsibility, here again is the Wikipedia link with a good description. I am still looking for the documentary I saw. The film is very good. Good enough that it scared the [expletive] out of me and made me a life long proponent of fire codes. So far the Internet consensus is that it was an HBO of A&E film. If anyone knows how to find it and especially where to get a copy, please let me know.  I did come across this 9 minute clip . It’s good enough

To help with your cognitive awareness around places you inhabit, here is a short list of codes that came out of that tragedy. Knowing about these will go along way in your understanding and respect for the codes and the people who must design and maintain these spaces. Having this knowledge is also why there is a difference between residential versus commercial/business designers, architects and contractors and office managers versus professional facility managers.

• Exit doors must swing out; panic bars and good exit signage
• Buildings with revolving doors must also have swinging doors along side
• Automatic sprinklers in specific types of usage spaces including restaurants and large public places
• Spaces of a certain size (over 3000 sq feet in offices) and of certain functions (like restaurants, night clubs, other public places) must have a least 2 exits. There are also codes around how far apart they need to be, obstructions about path of travel and a whole host of others rules, all to ensure you can safely exit in case of a disaster – fire, earthquake, etc. …
• Flame-retardation of materials – including wall, ceiling, floors, light fixtures and furniture

These codes are for your safety. Still one of the best preventions is you – and your participation. Be aware of where you are, where the exits are in places like planes, hotels, restaurants, arenas, churches – any place where people congregate. Know what to do to save your life. Be prepared. Be safe.

The other day I caught a piece of an Oprah episode held at the Texas State Fair. She and her best friend Gayle were judging a cooking contest. I came in at the end and they were down to the last two contestants. Oprah liked one dish and Gayle the other and they couldn’t decide who the winner was to be. Oprah was saying “I’m not backing down” and Gayle was saying the same. This went on several times and each time neither was giving in.

In the end they declared a tie. Each contestant won and the sponsor supposedly wonderfully donated a second big and expensive prize. The solution wound up essentially a best of class rather than one top overall winner. An approach I concur with, making this a competition of excellence rather than perfection, as there was no defined criteria for the win.

A couple of days later another option was presented to me. I was having coffee with a business associate and we were discussing his company, how all of his employees were working at a distance, some of whom he had employed for several years and he had never met. Talking about the pros and cons of conducting business in this manner, he expressed some difficulty with managing remotely but, as I listened further, there were no complaints about communication. I surmised that having been a VP of Global Real Estate for many years he had learned the skill of engaging people at a distance.

He agreed, said he had been negotiating leases for years around the world and he was very adept at negotiation over the phone. He had a recent example of his skill. He had just completed the sale of his company to a larger one in another state. During the final phases of the sale price determination he was in an on-the-phone negotiation and they were down to the wire, but still $2500 apart. With the sale being somewhere nicely in six figures and months of talking behind them, one would think a difference of $2500 was insignificant, but each party refused to back down.

It was partly a matter of saving face and, perhaps a bigger part, a definer of their future relationship as he, the old owner, would now be an employee to the new owners. If either backed down now, one or the other would be considered a push-over and probably wind up being taken advantage of or repeating this scenario throughout their business relationship. Also, to this gentleman’s mind, if they were going to quibble about this insignificant a point, he really didn’t want to do business with them and the deal would be off. So, what to do?

Here is his idea for brinkmanship and remember, he has been through this hundreds of times. Toss a coin. Yes, you are reading this right. Just toss a coin. This way both save face. It is up to the whim of the universe, to chance. Neither has to back down, the conflict is resolved and they can move on, without enmity or animosity, neither feeling slighted, nor the loser – all with a simple win-win tactic.

So Oprah and Gayle, the next time you find yourselves in a similar position, just toss a coin. Oh, by the way, he indicated that he tossed the coin, it came up heads and he won. Either way, since it was over the phone, the other person had to trust that was what really happened, and they did – another relationship exercise. Try it gals.

Over the last decade and a half, distance work has been known by a variety of terms – telecommuting, telework, teleconferencing, virtual work, alternative officing, hoteling, remote work, flex work, mobile work, distributed work, just to name a few. Of course, the best known term is telecommuting. But that is swiftly falling by the wayside. To date, no one other term has taken its place, mostly because each term in common usage describes a portion or version of distance work and thus is not all encompassing.

Telecommuting’s demise is not because people are telecommuting less. In fact, quite the opposite, it is on the increase. No less noted a source than Time Magazine in its May 25, 2009 issue has a cover story on “the Future of Work” and in it sites a Gartner Dataquest data point that: “28% of the workforce is estimated to telecommute full or part-time, up from 12% in 2000.” This same part of the articles touts the demise of the cubicle, which I am extremely happy about. Though only a brief summary, they do a good job by pointing out both the pros and cons of this evolution. I urge you to read the entire article. I think there predictions will surprise you.The problem with the term “telecommute” is that it is limiting.  more …

For the full version, click the link to our audio blog ‘distance work’ http://www.newworkplaces.com/podcast_blog.html

What made me think of it was a conversation I had yesterday with a woman friend of mine. I was relating to her some of my experiences about re-energizing my consulting business and she said. “You know. Some people don’t have the luxury that you do. They have mouths to feed and they need to have a job.” 

I was shocked. I felt like someone had just slapped me along side my head. When did the idea of starting a business become a luxury?! I don’t know any person who has started one, who thinks so. Most think it is damn hard work and wouldn’t it be a luxury to have a nice, cushy job to go to everyday. Let someone else do all the running-the-business worry, stress and hard work. And when did we shift to someone handing a job to us, from us making our own jobs.

So I asked her to elaborate on what she meant.  more …

For the full version, click the link to our audio blog ‘dreaming’ http://www.newworkplaces.com/podcast_blog.html

March, 2007
I have always found those dire predictions of how people who work at home are less likely to be promoted extremely mystifying. The current rash of doom and gloom articles has again circulated on the topic. Here is what I don’t get. I mean – if you are a global, or even just a national or regional company or just have another building across town, how do you expect to retain your distributed workforce if you only reward those employees who work with or report to co-workers who sit next to each other?
Work from home, work in another part of the world or work in a building next door – what’s the diff?! It’s all about working remotely via technology. Seems to me companies are shooting themselves in the foot if they only reward are those who are sitting within line of sight. The employees out there on the front lines are often the ones making it happen and are the future of the company.
Maybe it is the old military model. Those out in front are the expendable foot soldiers. While the important generals and lieutenants stay behind directing the show. If the supposition is true, that if you work remotely you won’t be promoted, then it would appear that those employees out on the front lines aren’t being shot by the competition but by friendly fire, in the back by those safe in the corporate office
The big mistake these companies are making is that in this business battle for good employees, when their managers take pot shots at them, they don’t crawl back wounded or die. If they are worth their salt, they will just jump sides. It’s a different world out there folks. Yes – loyalty is dead, especially if it only rewarded for those sitting in the company desk. What you see as expendable collateral, others see as assets.
What are the assets of an accomplished remote worker?
• The ability to work independently.
• A self-starter
• Highly self-motivate
• Good distance communication skills
• Able to collaborate with across multiple platforms
• Technologically savvy
The skill requirements requested on most job postings. Yet the culture that fosters this behavior is not one of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Just as a child tied to proverbial apron streams does not grow up to be a strong, self-reliant adult, neither does an employee. A boss watching all the time to see if employees are doing their jobs does not foster strong, independent work habits and processes.
Additionally, if you reward those who stay in the office and then, by default, you punish those who are brave enough to leave the nest to explore and work in new places, and you are setting up a culture that is risk adverse. Risk adversity does not foster creativity and innovation. The very things companies are complaining they don’t have anymore. Just like those baby birds and children who, once taught survival techniques, are then gently pushed out of the nest to live, survive on their own and to achieve their own accomplishments, so should companies do with their employees.
Instead of rewarding those safely staying behind company walls, management should be teaching their employees the skills of independence and self-reliance. Encouraging and supporting them to work in any location and rewarding them for their success so that their valuable brand of productivity stays with the company.

January 18, 2007

New W.O.W. Elephants in the Room and Business Axioms

• Technology isn’t going away.
  
• We as a country aren’t going to stop innovating.
  
• Technology is going to continue to bring us devices and tools that change the way, what, when, where, why and how we work.
  
• Progress is progressive.
  
• No decision is a decision.
  
• Inaction is an action.
  
• If you are standing still you are really falling behind.
  
• The barn doors are already open and the horses have left.
  
• If you think you can corral all of those road/home/coffeeshop/internetcafe/airplane/commutertrain/car/library/
  parkbench/beach … workers and put them back in the barn – see the all of the above.
  
• Not knowing that people are working because you can’t see them means you need a new pair of glasses.
  
• You are shooting yourself in the foot if you create the technology and think you don’t have to use it.
  
• If you think using your own product is akin to eating dog food, why in the world would your customers want use it?
  
• Change can’t be managed. You can’t manage something that has already occurred.
  
• Business-as-usual is rarely usual in business.
  
• Stuff happens – mostly when you least expect.
  
• Preparedness is as preparedness does.
  
• You don’t talk the talk and walk the walk, you walk the talk.
  
• Learning to work remotely is like learning to ride a bike. There is value in the trial and error, the skinned knees and the bruied egos, because once finally accomplished, you never forget how.
  

November 30, 2005