I am the Intern Coordinator for my market. Last Tuesday, 9 interns started with us. We have a conversion goal of 70%, so throughout the next 10 weeks I'm playing Chuck Dubya and making sure a true Love Connection occurs between them and my company. I met with them yesterday and we talked for several hours about how their first week went. So far so good! I asked for some feedback that I could take back to their respective stores. I was fully prepared for the normal feedback but then one intern said something that actually surprised me! I was reminded that culture at any company is still largely invisible..
Intern: "One thing that I've noticed is that you guys use a lot of sarcasm here. Since you're dealing with so many people wouldn't it be more effective to use a more direct way of communicating?"
Me: "Well aren't you a smart cookie!--Yes! Let's eliminate all Sarcasm from Management! Why don't we try and boil the ocean and build Rome in one day while we're at it!?"...
...Just kidding--although that version makes me smile. After I got more clarity about what she was speaking of I chose to respond in a more "direct way"...In many environments (ours included), sarcasm is a direct function of the company culture. It goes back to the Law of Unintended Consequences. You hire a bunch of witty people and you put them in a team environment where things aren't always perfect, there's bound to be some jest or jab at the conditions of such.
Yes, there is a very fine line between what is healthy and appropropriate and what is not. The beauty of sarcasm (in the way that it was used in her example) was that it revealed a greater issue, yet the mood of the team was preserved.
I let her know that as managers we are tasked with delivering a ton of different messages throughout the day and while we do that, it's important to know our audience. The truth is that sometimes sarcasm lightens the mood and sometimes it doesn't. While some audiences like to take their medicine straight up some, as Lady Poppins reminds us, prefer a spoonful of sugar (ironically, in this case: Sugar = Sarcasm). I've said it before and I'll say it again-there is no one-size-fits-all communication strategy. As the main communicators, we get to choose!
...now, back to being sarcastic and pretending to know what I'm talking about.
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