When a basketball team enters the court for a game, they don’t run it, set down their water bottles, and start the game.  They warm up.  They spend a good fifteen minutes bouncing the ball off the backboard, throwing it back and forth to teammates, and psyching up for the game.  There isn’t a coach of any sport in the world who would allow a team to start a game without warming up, but that is exactly what managers and team leaders demand in the workplace everyday.  People straggle in from various offices and departments throughout the building, put down their coffee, open up their briefcases, and sit down.  Everyone mumbles in conversation until the one in charge says, “Okay.  Let’s get started.”

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