By Joe DiDonato | Chief of Staff | Baker Communications, Inc.
One of the very best lessons that I’ve ever ‘experienced’ happened at the University of Michigan. It was a workshop for new managers, and I had just received a promotion to my very first management position. Years later, I still vividly remember it.
It was the first day of a week-long program for new managers. We were told to wear casual clothes because of the activities we’d be involved in during the workshop.
Our professor was running late – almost 15 minutes. None of us knew each other, so it was a little bit awkward. People were looking through their course materials. A couple of people from the same company were talking to each other about a work situation. And pretty much the rest of us were waiting patiently to start.
The professor finally arrived. He had a three-piece suit on, with the vest part of the suit ensemble buttoned, one button off. His hair was all mussed up from running his fingers through it. And in general, he looked pretty disheveled and disorganized.
Some of us looked around and exchanged a few smiles. And I’m sure a lot of my cohorts were wondering what this class was going to turn into. The professor slammed his briefcase on the desk at the front of the class and started into his story.
“My apologies for being late everyone! Something awful happened this morning.” Now he had our attention. “I keep all of my class materials in different briefcases so that I’m sure that everything I need is together for each of my classes.” That sounded plausible, and even organized considering his appearance.
“When I left the house this morning and got to the first stoplight, I realized that I had grabbed the wrong briefcase. So, I turned around and went back to get the right one. That’s when I realized that I had thrown my house key into that other briefcase, so I wasn’t going to be able to get into the house until my wife comes home this evening.”
We’re all still wondering where this was headed. Was he going to dismiss us? Was he going to “wing it” without his notes? For sure, we were all paying close attention.
“So, on the way to class, here’s what I decided to do. I thought I’d call on three people – someone with a white shirt, a blue shirt, and a red shirt – to come up to the front of the class and tell us what America means to them.”
I immediately looked down at my shirt and I knew I was in trouble. White. I looked around the classroom and there was also a lady with a white top on, so my odds of getting called on was 1 in 2. Darn. I started to wonder if he would notice if I got up to go to the bathroom. Too late. He started in again.
“And after we hear from those 3 people, I thought we’d all join hands and sing the Star, Spangled Banner.”
That was it. A crazy person was in charge of us. As I looked around the room, I saw everyone looking nervous. A couple of people were staring out the window. The rest were moving uncomfortably in their chairs.
All of a sudden, the professor stopped. He straightened out the buttons on his vest and smoothed down his hair. The next thing out of his mouth surprised all of us.
“Okay. Everyone, relax. We’re not going to do any of those things. But I have a few questions for all of you. The first is, what was going on in your head?”
That was easy. Everyone volunteered something. “We were trying to figure out how to get out of here!” “I was about to leave to go to the bathroom.” “I was staring out the window and hoping you wouldn’t notice the color of my shirt!”
The professor took a few more examples and then stopped us to summarize. “So, is it fair to say that the ‘quantity’ of thinking went up?” That received a unanimous ‘yes’ response.
“How about the ‘quality’ of thinking? Was anyone thinking about what they would say if they were called on?” The room was silent. No one raised their hand, probably equally afraid to be called up regardless of his reneging on the threat.
Then he summarized. “Congratulations, you’ve just learned your first lesson of management. When you put your people under stress, you can be assured of two things. The first is that the ‘quantity’ of thinking will rise dramatically. Unfortunately, the second thing that happens is that the ‘quality’ of thinking plummets. So why would you ever want to do that to the people that work for you?”
That was one of the best lessons on ‘stress’ that I have ever received. And obviously, decades later, I can still vividly recall the experience.
