The other day I was at a meeting of the National Speakers Association in the San Francisco area and someone came up and asked me what I spoke about. When I explained that ergonomic and ErgoDynamics were my topics the word Dynamic morphed back into nomic in their mind. Why, because she had worked for many years in Human Resources and ergonomics is a big topic there, anytime the work Ergo came up, it became ergonomics in her mind.
This was smart lady, a doctorate in education, many years in the corporate world, but obviously not a student of classic Greek. Ergon means work and nomic means natural laws. Dynamic means energy and movement. ErgoDynamic is interpersonal ergonomics, but it is not a common term, so I wasn't surprised when she wasn't familiar with the concept.
When I explained that the approach had to do with team positioning she started getting an idea of the significance of what we do, but she was working at a disadvantage. Why? Because she had entered the corporate work world in the early 1980's at a time when cubicles were carpeting the land! For a Boomer like myself who grew up in a family business that is hard to imagine.
I remember being in our factory office when I was barely tall enough to see the top of the desk, looking at the big, old mechanical calculator, with rows of buttons and a crank in the side. In the front entrance all of the desks faced the door and were commanded by ladies with clout. They controlled the production schedule and the cash and when you walked in you knew they were in charge. People didn't hide in cubicles.
Work place design has a history, even when it is as organic as putting the desks where they will fit. Like our laws, many of the concepts come down from the Romans. Julius Caesar didn't have a computer, but he did have a mobile desk. With our quickly changing work places and communications technology it is increasingly important for each individual, for each manager to understand the language of work space design.
They don't have to be perfectly fluent, but they need to understand enough to recognize the messages that their positioning is sending to their bodies, their minds and their souls. Then they can create themes that help them to live and work to their highest potential.
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