By James Tamm (January 16, 2006)

Project leaders can do their part to turn a blame-shifting “red zone” work environment into a “green zone” of shared vision and team collaboration by upholding these five principles.

Are you stymied by the collaboration void in your workplace? Wonder why, when you’ve struggled to select the best and the brightest for your project teams, tempers flare and productivity often grinds to a halt? Your workplace may be a “Red Zone” — an environment where turf is guarded and defensiveness abounds.

Red Zone organizations are made up of individuals who are short on “Green Zone” qualities such as trust, optimism and goodwill. When a project fizzles or fails in a Red Zone workplace, people turn to shame and blame — focusing not on what went wrong, but on who did wrong.

You're out on the town with some good friends hoping to have a great dinner and a memorable evening. There's a diner on the corner and a great Italian restaurant down the street. Which one are you going to choose?

The Diner - You May Want to Stick to the Basics Want a Steak? They've got it. Want Crab Cakes? They've got it. Want Veal Parmesan? They've got it.

They've got it but I'm not sure you'd actually want to eat it. The focus of a diner is to satisfy everyone by providing every type of food imaginable. However, quantity and quality are two very different things. Go ahead, ask the waiter what he recommends and you'll get a blank stare.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with employees? The goal of most managers is to create well-rounded employees. They try to achieve this by identifying the employee's weaknesses and trying to fix them. What about their strengths? They languish and dull due to lack of attention. The result of this focus, at best, is an employee who can do most things but is not remarkable at anything. Sound familiar?

Recently I discovered a website entitled Tips and Traps when Buying a Business http://www.sbishere.com/index.php

The site blurb states:
Where entrepreneurs come to learn how to locate, finance, and buy a small business. Pore over 300 pages of tips, articles, and book reviews to build your business, reduce risk, and increase your confidence.

Articles include subjects like:

and many more.