Corridor Running: The Office’s New Fad
SATIRE, Global – I have noticed a new fad in offices I have been visiting lately.
Need to look like you’re into your job?
Want to look like you care?
Want to disguise the fact you’re lazy?
That a chimpanzee could do your job?
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading …The problem…
You’ll need something to show urgency.
To show your deep level of understanding of how very critically important your job is.
How the company could not run without your contribution.
Even if all you do is move numbers around spreadsheets in an office.
In the competitive economy, your job is mission-critical. It’s more than that, it’s glamorous. The company could fail without you…
Better make sure you show it!
You’ll need also of course to show how very much more important you are than your co-workers.
One potential answer
Sure there is words. As was recently overheard:
“Oh, is that all it is? I was back sooner from lunch than I thought.”
Meaning: I work so hard I take shorter lunch breaks without trying.
Believe it or not I hear this sort of rot incessantly. How? I’ve worked at more than 350 organizations… remember?
Unfortunately in the hyper-competitive world, this sort of politicking is needed. To assert one’s dominance over co-workers and ensure you are recognized as a workplace leader.
Politicking in offices is a substitute for doing anything, and worsened by bosses who do not stamp out the practise.
Of course, words are no longer enough… The bar has been raised.
Everyone (in Australia and England at least) is getting better at politics.
The more we remove formal power structures and replace them with informal ones, the more this sort of political rot proliferates.
The New fad: Corridor Running
There’s a new fad sweeping the nation, and soon the world.
Corridor Running.
You can show you are ambitious, that you care, you are determined, and more important than co-workers.
Your job is so important you have to run to the copier or printer. Or run to the meeting. Or run across to your colleagues’ desk.
The less important your job, the more you can run.
Not just jog, but run! Sprint if you can.
For bonus points make a comment as well. Get out of breath. Make a fuss.
It’s the new bar in office politics. Run the corridor. Try it!
Take care – corridor running won’t make you fit!
Christopher (tongue-firmly in cheek)
(No, I am not making this up. I’ve seen it at more than a few workplaces now. People running to the copier. Or the desk. Really. No joke. I couldn’t make this up.)
Speaker. Author. Editor-In-Chief. Executive Director of Innovation, 2thinknow.
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