Your training department did what?????

I recently saw an article on Wired about a Utah motivational company manager who used waterboarding as a technique to inspire flagging sales quotas. Not surprisingly, the employee in question is suing. Ya think????

I think we need to consider this a lesson...there are certain things that just might sound good when faced with senior management's anger at low sales, or negative customer feedback, but maybe, just maybe, we should go for a long, long walk before we adding them to our training schedule.

Here are a few that come to mind, on this Monday morning....feel free to add your own as comments!

• Public flogging. Okay, so it worked well for despotic rulers across time and geography, but as HR managers, we might want to think twice. Not only do modern employees have access to attorneys, but local statutes on public entertainment might require burdensome permits, public hearings before and after, and other restrictions that would just take the spontaneity completely out of the event.
  
  
• Snake handling. Good for proving your loyalty to certain religious groups, bad for proving your loyalty to the company motto. Snake bites would mean hospitalization, and with health insurance rates being what they are....bad idea.
  
  
• Transfers to northern North Dakota or just about anywhere in New Jersey. If you're already in one of those places, you know what I mean. If not, trust me, there are no sales figures low enough to deserve that fate! (People in New jersey and North Dakota, I'm kidding. Really.)
  
  
• Piped in elevator music. The US Army once used rock music to extract a certain dictator from his headquarters. A string and orchestra rendition of Party Like a Rock Star is far worse.
  

So there is my starter list...Now add yours. Send me an e-mail, post a comment, or continue the list on your blog or site and send me the link. Also added it as a discussion question in BlogCatalog

Be creative!

Happy Monday!!