From Discombobulation to Recombobulation
Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 by Frank Roche
I’ve been spending a lot of time in Milwaukee lately, and I have to say that Mitchell Field has become one of my favorite airports. The scale is a nice breather from Philly and Chicago. The common area has really good restaurants and shops, including a Usinger’s, a Harley Davidson shop, and Renaissance Books, a used book store. And the TSA people are really nice. I mean that — they do their job, but they do it like normal people. And they have a “recombobulation” sign.
The recombobulation sign at the end of the screening area — where people are putting on their shoes, pulling on sweaters and belts, and stuffing computers back in bags — is a perfect description of what goes on. Instead of the frazzled feeling I normally have when all that’s going on, I usually laugh when I see the recombobulation sign.
If TSA can use humor in their very serious work, why is it so difficult to think about in HR communications? It shouldn’t be. Humor works. It stirs emotion. It’s memorable. And we all know we could use a little more recombobulation in HR these days.
rick
Feb 16th, 2009
I LOVE the sign!
I thought where you were going with the story is why can't we not be consistently good across locations or share learnings better across locations. HR is not necessarily good at this.
As to humor, I work it into my verbal presentation as often as I can. I even sometimes wonder if I “go for the laugh” a bit too often. In written communications I tend to be mopre conservative. First, humor often needs the benefit of tone of voice to be most effective. Second, in a diverse workforce there are very different ideas of what is humorous. Finally, some will be critical of a company not taking the difficult times seriously–one can never win.
Having said all that, the bevy of dry, factual communications that come across my desk from HR are not terribly effective. I guess I would error on the side of well positioned humor…assuming that HR people have a sense of humor.
HR Good Witch
Feb 16th, 2009
I love it. I think I'll add 'Recombobulation' to my personal goals. I think I could use a bit of recombobulating right now!
Frank
Feb 16th, 2009
You know, I think we all could use some recombobulation from time to time.
LOL…it's just a fun word to say…maybe we should do that every day.
Thanks for the good idea!
Frank
Kris Dunn
Feb 16th, 2009
Frank – You're right, Mitchell in Milwaukee rocks. The last time I was there I had a hot chocolate and listened to a ARTIST play the piano in the lobby you described. Never saw the sign, but you are on the money about the TSA folks – best in the country…
Nice shout out and I agree – never saw the sign though….
Frank
Feb 17th, 2009
Kris, I'm glad to hear you've had parallel experiences. I am really
impressed with the TSA folks there…and that's saying something. I'm on an
airplane enough that I've had a good sampling of how it can go right and how
it can go wrong. I have to believe that the TSA leadership in Milwaukee has
it right and hires for good traits.
Funny sign, huh? I really liked that one. It made my day.
Frank