This is a follow-up to: Why Won’t You Listen to Me?
Given the boss—the location does not matter. The time of day does not matter. Even the food and beverage choices do not matter. Yet all of this became the insight for Greg to have a second conversation with his coworker Carly.
“Carly, we’re going forward with everything,” Greg said. “We’re implementing a work-life balance plan. We’re going forward with the reasonable growth plan. We’re not canceling the one-week Holiday Inn retreat, but we are releasing funds to help with mental health all year round.”
Shocked by these statements, Carly dropped her mug, and it shattered.
“There’s no way all that’s happening,” Carly said.
“I just wanted to let you know,” Greg said with a smile, and walked out of the room. Carly decided to follow him instead of cleaning up the mug and spilled drink.
“Greg, our boss did not agree to all of that,” Carly said.
“Are you sure?” Greg said.
“He doesn’t listen,” Carly responded.
“That’s funny,” Greg said with a smile. “He heard everything.”
“What did you do?”
Greg leaned against the wall. “I just told him what I was going to do. I didn’t ask permission or give a speech.”
“And he signed off on it?” Carly asked.
“No, but he didn’t say no,” Greg said. “He heard me, but he wasn’t listening.”
Greg started walking again. Carly grabbed his shoulder.
“What happens when he gets mad about everything happening?”
“I’ll remind him that we talked about it,” Greg said. “By that time, we probably will have fixed everything. Maybe it comes up at the Holiday Inn retreat.”
“I can’t believe that’s the thing we’re keeping,” Carly said.
“You know our boss loves it,” Greg said. “Who else has a company retreat at a Holiday Inn?”
“I just don’t know if this is the best plan,” Carly said.
Greg smiled. “I’m not listening to you on this.”