Snow White is an individual, pristine and secure in the knowledge that she is fair indeed … and clever. Accountable, hard working to boot and without her team not worth one iota to the company!

The modern day Snow White is slowly placing much emphasis on the worth of her dwarves and because she is sometimes baffled by their behaviour, I have taken the time out to try and acquaint them all with each other ...

Dopey – what can we say? Dopey comes from a carefree childhood where his main goal as a teenager was in fact to play a particularly physical sport and to try to remember where his classes were for the day, or what his classes were, for that matter. He recognised the need to read, write and spell, only once, just before he promptly forgot about it all again and the thought never again resurfaced.

He normally works in sales, is affable, well liked by clients, achieves amazing targets, is simultaneously heavily frowned upon by administration and dispatch because his paperwork is a nightmare and he has never learnt to tell the time or understood the concept of deadlines. Dopey finds it hard to fill in call sheets and petrol logs and, generally, the management find it equally hard to track him down … but in true winning style he almost always manages to draw on his experience as a competitive player and scores a home run.

Sneezy – for obvious health reasons, difficult to be near, has some amazing qualities. Stoicism, fearless tenacity, outstanding bravery in the face of illness and adversity. Sneezy plugs away, day after day, at both the tissue box and the tedious job of making sure the tissue trail is perfect. Without Sneezy’s attention to detail, we would all be far more red faced. Sneezy and Dopey don’t get on!

Happy - one of the nicest dwarfs to have around, Happy has a particularly useful role in the office, even though it is not evidently profitable. As the official “ray of sunshine”, Happy is responsible for ensuring that team building remains uppermost in our minds. Happy soothes rumbling discontent. He often tends to be really good friends with the affable Dopey and more than likely has the ability to make the clock stand still for dispatch, allowing said department to load an entire and additional 30 cubic meter vehicle in the time originally allocated for only 4 loads. Happy has tremendous giving qualities and it does happen, that on the few days that Happy is not in the office, a general hush descends and the quieter Bashful gets his chance to shine.

Bashful – the very reticent dwarf, who often has his nose to the grindstone, is often the source of much surprise. This is largely due to the fact that he is overshadowed by the noisy antics of Dopey and Happy. Bashful is seen to be quiet and simply efficient. To be relied upon in times of need, Bashful plays a very useful supporting role in Snow White’s organisation. On the occasion where Snow White is in control of her meetings and able to draw each and every dwarf into the mix, the others are really delighted to entertain the often creative suggestions that Bashful brings to the fore … that is, of course, if Grumpy does not bring them down.

Grumpy – a particularly ardent supporter of Edward De Bono’s Black Hat, finds himself sorely challenged when he must do anything other than complain. Even if you give him free reign and suggest that none of the proposed approaches CAN work, he is sometimes likely to find himself in opposition to you. This tactic is one that needs to be used sparingly on Grumpy, because as soon as he finds himself contributing positively to the situation, he may retreat into a silence that is thunderous in its ferocity … under no circumstances should Snow White and the other dwarfs expect more than a slight twitch of the lips from Grumpy, but his demeanour aside, he is often very wise when it comes to highlighting potential negatives, which in fact give the Docs of the world an opportunity to work their magic.


Doc - The fixer – has the ability to work magic. If an error occurs or the system breaks down, Doc has a potion, he manages to diagnose and to restore, he finds solutions and gets the system going, he drives our processes and is continually reminding us that medication is due. His diagnostic capability, tempered by the blind optimism of Happy and the absolute negativity of Grumpy, fuelled by the creativity of Bashful and the pedantic approach of Sneezy makes for a very, very healthy environment that leaves us with one dwarf that Snow White needs to know about……

Sleepy - who always catches up later, much later. A dwarf of tremendously slow habit, he ambles around apparently oblivious and if the truth be told he sometimes truly is! On occasion he may well surprise us ... being a late bloomer and all … but that is a story for another day!

The strengths and weaknesses of each of these characters together form our modern day teams, teams that bring about much creativity, much industry and currently sustain an economy that is the biggest it has ever been ... let’s not forget to enjoy the fruits of this labour and let us not forget to recognise each other in the successes we celebrate.

Thank you all you little characters from my childhood, I had so much fun here that I forgot all about poison apples and wicked step mothers with ulterior motives.....hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go....

(c) Debbie Engelbrecht, http://www.stafftraining.co.za