Managing The Boss

Things Have Changed Management Consulting LLC brings you the fourth in our series on effective management techniques.  Earlier parts of the series can be found here, here and here.

Sometimes a good boss can get a bit out of hand.  What's the best way to handle it if you are a subordinate?  Simple, go to their spouse and ask them to intervene!

This blog is a great admirer of Winston Churchill but he could be a bit difficult to work for sometimes.  Another way to put it is that he drove a lot of people absolutely crazy and they found working for him exhausting (read the memoirs of British cabinet officers and members of his military staff for plenty of evidence of this).  After ascending to the Prime Ministership on May 10, 1940, Winston was under a lot of pressure what with the fall of France, getting the British army out of Dunkirk, the evacuation of Norway and all that other nasty war stuff which wasn't going very well and his behavior deteriorated under the stress.

Apparently some of his staff went to his wife, Clementine, the one person he would occasionally listen to, and she wrote him this missive in late June of 1940.  It turns out she was a very engaging writer.  Take a read and then you can utilize this technique the next time you have an opportunity! 

From Letters of Note:

10 Downing Street,
Whitehall

June 27, 1940

My Darling,

I hope you will forgive me if I tell you something that I feel you ought to know.

One of the men in your entourage (a devoted friend) has been to me & told me that there is a danger of your being generally disliked by your colleagues and subordinates because of your rough sarcastic & overbearing manner — It seems your Private Secretaries have agreed to behave like school boys & 'take what's coming to them' & then escape out of your presence shrugging their shoulders — Higher up, if an idea is suggested (say at a conference) you are supposed to be so contemptuous that presently no ideas, good or bad, will be forthcoming. I was astonished & upset because in all these years I have been accustomed to all those who have worked with & under you, loving you — I said this & I was told 'No doubt it's the strain' —

My Darling Winston — I must confess that I have noticed a deterioration in your manner; & you are not so kind as you used to be.

It is for you to give the Orders & if they are bungled — except for the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury & the Speaker, you can sack anyone & everyone — Therefore with this terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympic calm. You used to quote:— 'On ne règne sur les âmes que par le calme' [Trans: One can reign over hearts only by keeping one's composure]— I cannot bear that those who serve the Country and yourself should not love as well as admire and respect you —

Besides you won't get the best results by irascibility & rudeness. They will breed either dislike or a slave mentality — (Rebellion in War time being out of the question!)

Please forgive your loving devoted & watchful
Clemie

I wrote this at Chequers last Sunday, tore it up, but here it is now.