B2 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE SUNDAY • MARCH 31,2019 MEDIATE THIS ! THE PAPERLESS OFFICE: SAVE TREES, LOSE PRODUCTIVITY BY STEVEN P. DINKIN tion,” the authors wrote. “We on electronic documentation have heard stories of paperless than you really are. If it proves Dear Mediator: offices, but we have never seen you right, your next step is also My employer, a nonprofit one.” counterintuitive. organization, has instituted a Sellen and Harper discovered Present the time-usage data computer program called “Pa- that efforts to break the paper with a constructive request: Is persave.” The goal is to reduce habit can backfire: “In one or- there any way to retool the new office paper consumption. It’s a ganization, managers banned the system so the disruptions it noble endeavor, except for this: use of personal filing cabinets, causes don’t outweigh natural Papersave requires over a dozen only to find that people resorted resource conservation? steps to submit a document. It to using their cars or home offices In our daily lives, environmen- now takes 10 minutes to complete to store their paper files.” talism often asks us to make atask that used to take 2 min- History is clearly on your side difficult resource choices. Is it utes. Everyone in the office hates in this workplace stalemate. But better to wipe off a dirty plate Papersave (except the account- the historical record is rarely with a paper towel and waste ing department!), but the leader- helpful when management hands wood pulp, or rinse it off in the ship team has been touting how down a decision that subordi- sink and use up water? “green” we are, so no one wants to nates have trouble implementing. In the world of business (for- speak against it. Your executives have literally profit and nonprofit), time and Feeling Blue not Green bought into this concept. They productivity are premium re- in San Carlos are undoubtedly aware that sources. Your organization is rank-and-file staff are resisting GETTY IMAGES trying to balance those needs Dear Feeling Blue: the change. That will put them on This week’s query comes from an office worker who questions with a larger social responsibility. Like the open floor plan, the the defensive, which is a short the efficiency of a newly implemented “paperless office” policy. Working together, leadership and paperless office was a brilliant road to a full-blown conflict. staff can come up with creative workplace innovation until real So your best first step is start afresh. everyone embrace it. solutions that will achieve both workers actually started using it. counterintuitive. Take a deep At the next opportunity, a You’ve seen how the paperless goals. In their 2003 book, “The Myth breath, and try to envision how senior employee should reassure program eats up time that could of the Paperless Office,” Abigail J. the learning curve for this new an influential manager that your be spent more productively. Now Steven P. Dinkin is a professional mediator Sellen and Richard H.R. Harper, program might start to flatten team supports environmental you have to document that by who has served as president of the San researchers at Hewlett Packard out. sustainability and you all are keeping a desk log. If you can also Diego-based National Conflict Resolution and Microsoft respectively, ex- Early on in conflict resolution committed to making this ven- show that other important tasks Center since 2003. Do you have a conflict amined the sinuous 30-year cam- scenarios, mediators ask both ture work. are getting short shrift under the that needs a resolution? Share your story paign to digitize all business parties to give each other the Give her or him a moment to new system, make sure to note with The Mediator via email at documents. benefit of the doubt. This isn’t absorb this news. Then suggest that. [email protected] or as an “We have seen varying success just a courtesy. It’s a tool for that tracking the real-time roll- The evidence you gather may online submission by visiting in reducing paper use, ranging sweeping away the emotional out of the new system could iden- prove you wrong; it’s possible you www.ncrconline.com/MediateThis. All from dismal failure to mild reduc- debris of distrust so everyone can tify ways to improve it and help think you’re spending more time submissions will be kept anonymous. NOTEBOOKS From Union-Tr ibune reporting staff OUTDOORS: ERNIE COWAN THE READERS’ REPRESENTATIVE: ADRIAN VORE Much to learn from county’s lagoons U-T cartoonist chronicles migrants It was naturalist Henry David Thoreau Union-Tribune editorial cartoonist Steve who wrote, “In wildness is the preservation Breen has been traveling to Tijuana since of the world.” December for his “Drawn to America” series. As urbanization creeps over the natural The series chronicles some of the Central landscape, wildness is harder and harder to American migrants who have come to the find. Fortunately, there are dedicated peo- border seeking asylum to enter the U.S. ple who have worked hard to preserve a few He draws one of the migrants and tells unique wild places where we can escape to the person’s story of where they came from renew our souls. and why they undertook the trek, usually Iran into a couple of those folks this from Central America. week while exploring the wildness at Carls- The series began Dec. 2. A story and illus- bad’s Batiquitos Lagoon. tration has run every two to three weeks on Kathy Dickey and Deb Mossa are two the editorial pages and on the U-T’s website. women who’ve had successful careers in re- ERNIE COWAN He has done eight so far.The most recent ap- search and the corporate world, but now de- Hikers walk past an abudance of wild- pears today on a woman from Haiti who ar- vote much of their time as volunteers pro- flowers at the Batiquitos Lagoon. rived in Tijuana via a caravan from Brazil. moting the lagoon and its many wonders. Breen also teams with U-T videographer Both are active in education programs skimmers still feed here on fish and snail John Kelley for video presentations that ap- that bring the natural world to life for kids species that can thrive in the mixture of salt pear on sandiegouniontribune.com. or curious adults. Their cup of knowledge is and freshwater. Isee the series as offering readers unique full, and I enjoyed learning from them about The east basin is the largest and while insight into who these migrants are. But the unique natural landscape that lagoons still filled with saltwater, it has more fresh- judging by comments left on the U-T web- offer. water. This is also the most visited part of site, some readers don’t see it that way. They There are six lagoons dotted along San the lagoon and the most diverse because of basicallysaytheseriesshowsthatBreenand Diego County’s coastline. Some might the blending of plant and animal species the U-T are biased, that they are pro-mi- count seven, but there are subtle differenc- from the saltwater, marine environment to grant. One reader, Michael Lang from Boul- es between a lagoon and an estuary. Some freshwater and coastal sage. Seals, rays and evard, called the readers’ rep last month to might consider Tijuana River basin a la- even sea turtles have made their way into sayhethoughttheseriesis“overthetop.”It’s goon, but it’s actually an estuary. the eastern basin. “propaganda.” Lagoons are shallow with veryslow flows The Batiquitos Nature Center is also “Enough,” he said. “We need to concen- of water, while estuaries are deeper with here at the end of Gabbiano Lane in Carls- trate on America’s problems.” faster moving currents. bad. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., it is a Iwanted to get Breen’s reaction to some The county’s lagoons are Los great source of information and organized readers’ perspectives that the series shows STEVE BREEN Peñasquitos, south of Del Mar; San Die- events. bias: One of the migrants, Carlos Flores, as guito between Del Mar and Solana Beach; From the nature center, an excellent “I understand that sentiment,” Breen drawn by Steve Breen. San Elijo at the south end of Encinitas; Ba- trail heads east, allowing the visitor to casu- said. “Frankly, I don’t think we should be ad- tiquitos in Carlsbad; Agua Hedionda in ally explore the beauty of the lagoon. mitting most of these migrants. Some, yes. George Soros is driving them to Tijuana. Carlsbad; and Buena Vista separating The lagoon is alive now with spring wild- I’mgladI’mnotthepersonwhohasto decide Many migrants are coming because they Carlsbad and Oceanside. flowers. Egrets, willets and grebes fed in the whom to admit. They’re coming here be- have nothing better to do, but a lot are com- All are worth visiting. shallow water, while I marveled at the vari- cause they are able to come here. In other ing because they are truly desperate. Let’s Batiquitos Lagoon might be one of the ety of color from fields of wild mustard to words, they can walk and find bus rides have compassion for them.” most interesting because of the effects of ur- delicate clusters of ground pink tucked into north. The readers’ rep also receives calls and banization. the mat of green grass. “If people from South Sudan or India emails saying the continued coverage of the With construction of the railroad crossing Large thickets of black-eyed Susan flow- could find free transportation to our bor- migrants in Tijuana illustrates bias.