How to keep wallflowers from poisoning your company

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  1

  swilsonw

  12/03/09 | Report as spam

  RE: How to keep wallflowers from poisoning your company

  The title of your article indicates the reason so many people are lonely... and afraid. We identify the manifestation of a problem as the problem itself - in this case the "wallflower", further increasing the isolation and marginalization they feel. The end result is we disassociate from them, we fire them. But the problem still remains.
  
  Ni you don't get it. To you the obvious answer is to fire the moper.

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  DanaBlankenhorn

  12/03/09 | Report as spam

  That's not the only solution

  It's a lot cheaper to deal with the causes of loneliness than to suffer the cost of firing someone and replacing them with others.
  
  I've been on the other side of this, by the way. At the Atlanta Business Chronicle. I got fired and replaced by 3 people. Was it a righteous firing? In retrospect, given what I was like then, maybe it was.
  
  But more should have been done to keep me. It would have been cheaper.

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  3

  kfessler1@...

  12/08/09 | Report as spam

  RE: How to keep wallflowers from poisoning your company

  I agree with "swilsonw" and Dana.
  
  Why is it the first reaction is to fire the person? What if that person was a good worker, but just had some issues that needed to be dealt with? Wouldn't it be a better idea to try and talk to the person first and maybe get them some help instead of just firing them? If you had a problem that pertained to your job, wouldn't your manager want you to find a solution for it instead of quitting?
  
  Firing someone is the easy way out. But if you would try and help that person, and succeed, wouldnt it make you feel so much better?

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  4

  UnCommonCents

  12/08/09 | Report as spam

  RE: How to keep wallflowers from poisoning your company

  @swilsonw... insightful comment! Deserves a more
  responsive and thoughtful reply... how 'bout it Dana?

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  5

  Mike106132000@...

  12/08/09 | Report as spam

  RE: How to keep wallflowers from poisoning your company

   In the UK we recognised this on a larger scale. Social exclusion 
  causes all kinds of problems. The people who constantly moan about the 
  government are often lonely and isolated and socially excluded; but 
  they still have a vote and use it. The present government in the UK had 
  fine ideals on this subject but in practice has made things worse. 
  People with psychological problems offered group "education" in the 
  form of cognitive behavioural therapy by private companies. A big rise 
  in companies training "life coaches". We need proper counsellors 
  trained in dynamic psychology. We also need outreach services, doctors 
  won't make a house call any more. It is contagious and it's an epidemic 
  and it affects all branches of society. Even bankers and city traders; 
  who are having problems right now.
  
  

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  becky@...

  12/15/09 | Report as spam

  RE: How to keep wallflowers from poisoning your company

  You have wisely noted the emotional and economic toll that exclusion takes on any organization. Ultimately, people are dealing with matters of trust.
  
  When those in leadership practice a balance of straight talk and overall respect, they set an example of "smart trust" (described by Stephen M.R. Covey in his book The Speed of Trust). Even wallflowers tend to bloom under those safer conditions. As you noted, Dana, empowering your existing staff heightens productivity and profit. It makes good "people sense" and it certainly makes good business sense.