How many of you watched the recent Claire Sweeney TV documentary on ITV? To re-cap, Ms Sweeney was filmed spending six weeks on a fast food, puddings and wine-based diet. To apparent amazement, she managed to prove that such a dietary regime leads to getting fatter and, in her case, more miserable. My immediate reaction was to switch channels, on the grounds that it wasn't worth the cost of production or viewers' time to illustrate such a statement of the b****in' obvious. In hindsight though, it does make me think. We see examples of apparent disregard for the b****in' obvious all around us. Managers who doodle when you are talking to them, oblivious to the impression of disinterest they create; people kept waiting beyond their appointment time with no word of explanation or apology; and colleagues who communicate exclusively by e-mail. All of these examples have the same thing in common. They are disrespectful of the other person and, basically, rude. To state the b****in' obvious, when you are rude to staff, colleagues or customers, what result do you expect to get? Joy, commitment, motivation and productivity. Of course not. So why do it? It might be that we lack self-awareness or self-confidence in dealing with others or, more worryingly, we are perfectly aware, but don't care. Either way, when we see such behaviour, it should always be challenged. Almost 100 years ago, researchers reported on the results of studies undertaken at the Hawthorne Works, near Chicago. They originally set out to observe the extent to which changes to the working environment – such as lighting – altered worker productivity. What they found, in a nutshell, was that it didn't seem to matter what was changed, but productivity increased because of the attention people were receiving. Treat people with respect, and they tend to respond positively. How obvious is that. But take a look around you – and at yourself. It might be b****in' obvious but is it b****in' apparent?
