Not too long ago, I was on my way to a client meeting on the other side of town from where I live. To get to the site, I had to cross a bridge through downtown. This bridge is a main thoroughfare and therefore heavily traveled. So much so, that they are actually building another bridge to replace it and in the meantime the current bridge has limited lanes open.
While I was crossing the bridge I noticed a flashing sign that read, “Respect the Barrel” referring to the orange barrels closing off the outer lanes. Of course it got my attention, as most anything having to do with respect does!
I kept thinking about that flashing sign. I even mentioned it to the client, while we were talking about all the amazing things that had happened since they started using our learning processes. We even had a good laugh about how obvious the sign was and how I thought it would make a good blog post.
What intrigued me about the sign was that it was so blatant. Of course, we all know that we should be cautious while driving in a construction zone. Do we really need a reminder?
Maybe we do.
As daily life gets more hectic, we might actually require these gentle reminders to bring us back into awareness. What if we also had these overt reminders posted in the workplace but instead of saying, “Respect the Barrel,” they said, “Respect Your Co-Workers?”
Imagine going into work and seeing a flashing sign at the entrance that encouraged you to be more respectful in your behavior towards others. A small reminder to treat others the way they’d like to be treated. Or, when you turned on your computer that same message appeared on your screen. What if all throughout your day there were visual cues to be more respectful, would you listen and do it?
Image: gwdexter – Flickr
