Language Lessons How to turn your employees from whiners to winners.

Loren Gruner's employees were communicating, all right. Theproblem was with what they were saying. They were questioning thesystem instead of being proactive and suggesting solutions toproblems, explains the president of Integral Results Inc., a20-person San Francisco computer systems consulting firm.

Behind the muttering was potential trouble. "Company moralewas down," says Gruner. "The employees weren't[feeling] positive about where they were working."

Gruner's solution was to bring in a management consultant toinstruct the employees in something called knowledge mobilization.The training helped them improve communication and follow-through,and increase trust, Gruner reports. Most important, the grumblingended.