I wanted a bit of smile to assist me in setting a tone for the day and week ahead… the following short bit did it for me.
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next week, the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (AND LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5:00 AM.
The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and that he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t woken him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
The paper said, “It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.” (MEN JUST AREN’T EQUIPPED FOR THESE SORT OF CONTESTS)
The “silent treatment” takes many forms in the corporate world and the resulting casualties are always trust, relationships and ultimately culture. I’ve had more clients in the last 6 months, than the previous 9 years, use the term “passive aggressive” in their attempts to describe what is plaguing their workplace. E-mail is often the favored weapon of the passive aggressive culture. Tactics include withholding needed details, CC-ing everyone in the chain of command – especially when a “point is being made”. Not replying promptly or replying late at night to “let them know” you are working late…can also contribute to negative feelings in the workplace. (I love Tim Sanders 12 rules for E-mails … great video on his Rule # 3 click here)
With all this potentially going on in the world of work… we must be more deliberate, decided and determined than ever before that we will not reciprocate or participate . We will not be pulled into the petty by acting pious or pitiful. We will rise above such things and model the behaviors more apt to be seen in Mary Poppins than in episodes of “The Office”. And I don’t mean the Banker guy, at least until the end of the Movie, where he takes his family(home team), to the park to “Go Fly a Kite”)
In fact.. wouldn’t it be wonderful if the next office culture building event ..was a Kite Flying Contest? If any of you do… please send me pictures. I don’t think I have flown a kite in at least 15 years.
When we get out of ICU and Home… we are going to go FLY A KITE!
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