Often managers use anger and berating as a first option when trying to get people in motion. Often using humor and a lighthearted approach is the best way to get people working in the same direction. People get entrenched and defensive when attacked, but open up when they are working in collaboration and when appreciated and respected.
In 1863 the famous author Charles Dickens had a problem with his clock. It was no longer chiming on the hour. Rather than attack the clockmaker who had tried to “fix” the problem, he used a winsome approach. Here’s a copy of his note:
Gad’s Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent,
Monday Night, Fourteenth September, 1863
My dear Sir,
Since my hall clock was sent to your establishment to be cleaned it has gone (as indeed it always has) perfectly well, but has struck the hours with great reluctance, and after enduring internal agonies of a most distressingly nature, it has now ceased striking altogether. Though a happy release for the clock, this is not convenient to the household. If you can send down any confidential person with whom the clock can confer, I think it may have something on its works that it would be glad to make a clean breast of.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens
Are there problems which you are facing which seem deeply entrenched? Is it possible that by using humor you could help others to see the nature of the problem and get the problem moving?
David Curry
(letter from Forbes Book of Great Business Letters)
