Many of us are trying almost desperately to hold on to the belief that bringing more toys into the workplace will make things more fun.

It seems to me, however, that bringing more toys into the workplace to make work more fun is like bringing more canaries into the mine to make the mine safer. If the environment is toxic, it’s time to get out of the mine.

– Bernie deKoven (source)

Right on, Bernie!

And may I add that if the environment is toxic, bringing in motivational speakers, inspirational posters or just about any other gimmick you can think of is useless. Or worse than useless, because it will be seen as an attempt to distract people from the real problems.