Kill ‘em with kindness

After he signed an 11-year, $300 million mega-contract to play baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, new shortstop Trea Turner was having trouble living up to the expectations.

Pardon me if I don’t shed too many tears over the struggles of a guy making such an obscene amount of money to play a sport. But in the midst of his season-long slump, Turner came to the plate in an early August home game to a surprise. The Philadelphia faithful rose to its feet and roared its support, giving the scuffling shortstop a standing ovation he definitely hadn’t earned.

The catalyst for the unlikely ovation: a sports talk radio host who saw the long nights in the batting cages and sad-sack body language in interviews and determined the $300 million man needed to know someone was in his corner. Jack Fritz of SportsRadioWIP suggested the ovation on social media. It gained traction, he started promoting the idea on his show, others did the same and the plan snowballed.

“He’s gonna be here for a while,” Fritz said. “So, why would we try to ruin the relationship this early?”

After the ovation, Turner turned his season around (I’m sorry). He’s been on fire since, hitting 16 home runs in a month and a half. And his team is sharing his success, chasing a Wild Card playoff berth. In his post-game interview, Turner expressed how much he and his family appreciated the gesture.

In business, we often have clients that frustrate us. Still, you want to keep them around – most of them, anyway. Put on that smile and resist the urge to fire off that email the next time they make you want to slam your head on your desk. Take a walk, squeeze your stress ball and wait for the blood pressure spike to subside. If you burn that bridge, you won’t do business with that client again. Think of a way to say what you need to say in a positive way. Try to be constructive with your feedback, not destructive.

Above all, be kind. You never know what other people are going through in their lives. By extending some grace, you may be giving that person a huge break that they needed to get through the day. And hopefully, they’ll do better tomorrow. Maybe the next time you need to work together, instead of striking out again, they’ll hit a home run for you.

Do you have any stories about how you turned around a relationship with a struggling employee or a troublesome client? I’d love to hear them.