A few days ago several folks were talking about manners in the locker room at the gym. The topic du jour—a pile of wet towels at the bottom of the locker that had to be cleaned up by the next person. It happened again, but this time the towels were piled on a bench in two separate piles, probably by two different people. Without a word, a woman picked them up and dropped them in the towel bin. The scene highlighted a basic phenomenon—people that are part of the problem and those that are part of the solution.
This sort of scene plays out daily in work environments. At work, the towel may be an unfinished project that others have to complete or disruption in the workplace that slows the team down. Many times the people that are creating the problem are unaware of their role in it. How are you creating an environment of people who create solutions?