So, Annalisa Merelli. Yeah, that name rings a bell. I remember bumping into her articles, you know, the kind that talk about how work is changing, all that future of work stuff. Sounded pretty on the ball, I thought at the time.
Anyway, there was this one period where my little team, we were just not clicking. Communication was a mess, wires crossed all over the place. I’d been reading up, probably saw something by her, or someone similar, talking about “radical candor” or “total transparency.” You know the buzzwords. Seemed like a magic bullet.
“Right,” I said to myself, “let’s give this a whirl.” I gathered the team, told them, “Okay folks, new rule: just say exactly what’s on your mind. No holding back. Let’s be open!” I really thought I was onto something groundbreaking.
Well, let me tell you, it was a disaster. Pure and simple. Turns out, when you tell people to be “radically transparent” without any actual groundwork or, you know, basic human decency filters, it just becomes a free-for-all for folks to be unintentionally (or intentionally) harsh. Or just plain awkward.
I remember one guy, let’s call him Dave, told Susan her project updates were, and I quote, “like a five-year-old’s scribbles.” Susan, bless her heart, then told Mark his coding speed made snails look like Formula 1 drivers. Morale? It didn’t just drop, it cratered. Productivity went right down the toilet with it. People were walking on eggshells, or worse, just clamming up entirely because they were scared of the “transparency.”
It was nothing like those neat articles described. They make it sound so easy, so transformative. But real life, with actual people and their feelings? That’s a whole different kettle of fish. I spent the next few weeks in damage control mode, doing one-on-ones, pretty much apologizing for my “brilliant” idea and trying to get people to talk to each other like normal human beings again.
It was a tough lesson, that one. Made me realize you gotta be super careful with these trendy management ideas you read about. Whether it’s from Annalisa Merelli or any other guru out there, you can’t just take their word for it and expect it to magically fix everything. Real change, especially with people, is slow. It’s about patience and understanding, not some quick gimmick I picked up from an online piece.
So now, when I hear names like Annalisa Merelli, or see those articles about the “next big thing” in work culture, I take them with a giant pinch of salt. Good for thought, maybe. But I definitely think twice, or maybe three times, before trying to implement anything too “radical” ever again. Mostly, it just reminds me of the time I nearly started a small civil war in my own department with a badly thought-out communication strategy. Live and learn, I guess.
