It Fits Like a Glove
One day when my co-worker Jeff arrived for work at Accenture, he spotted a lonely winter glove in the employee parking lot. When he walked by my desk, he put the glove on my desk and jokingly said ‘You dropped your glove Michael’.
The following day when Jeff returned to his desk after lunch, he found the glove standing upright with a note that said ‘I thought you might enjoy a glovesicle for dessert’. I had dunked the glove in water, froze it overnight in the break room freezer and then put it on his desk.
A week went by without any sight of the glove, so I thought Jeff had let it go. On my way home one night, it started pouring rain during my drive. Due to the heavy rain, I couldn’t see out the rear window of my hatchback. I turned on the rear wiper, and in my rear view mirror I spotted the glove waving to me. Jeff had slipped it over the rear wiper blade. OK, this game was not over.
Two months later, Jeff headed out of the office for a 3 day golf trip to South Carolina with a few friends. On his second day at the hotel, the front desk called his room to tell him he had a package at the front desk. He went down and they handed him a FedEx box. He opened the box to find a manila envelope inside. When he opened it he found the glove with a note that read ‘Here is your custom fitted golf glove.’ I had emailed Jeff’s wife and asked for the name of the hotel where he would be staying.
When Jeff returned on Monday he said, ‘Ok, game over. You win. I can’t top it’.
I think one of the hardest transitions in a person’s career is going from being an individual contributor to becoming a people manager. It does not mean, though, that you have to completely lose your sense of humor. I think when I first became a people manager I turned into ‘Serious Work Michael’.
Some of the best managers I’ve worked for have managed to balance being a strong manager while also finding ways to have fun with their team.
It has been years but every once in a while I wonder when that glove is going to surface again.
Note: this story was first published on my LinkedIn profile.
