Fixing a Goat Problem

The bride (my wife of many years) wanted goats.  I claim no ownership of them, but I still get to care for them.

There are a few people that have three or four goats that don't want to have a billie to breed them.  The really do stink.  Some friends and neighbors will either rent a billie from us or bring their nannies to be bred.

One such friend brought a nanny.  She considered people to be part of her herd.  The first night she spent with us I came home from a meeting and she had gotten out of the pen.  She saw me and came running.  She followed me right up on the porch.  I put her back in the goat pen, and headed back to the house.  I got about 50 feet and she was beside me, so I put her on a barn for the night that I knew she couldn't escape.  With goats the saying goes: If it'll hold water, then it'll hold a goat.

The next morning I put her back in with the goats, but later in the day she was out again.  Sometimes I subscribe to making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult.  So I got my cow dog to chase her around  for about 15 seconds, while I opened the gate.  My dog chased her back into the pen.  She hasn't gotten out since then.  She figured that it was safer with the strange goats then outside where a dog might bother her again.

This reminds me of a project that I once led.  It was successful enough to land my picture on the front page of the company newsletter.  During a visit to the men's room, I found a copy of the newsletter on the floor.  I commented to my secretary that you knew you were a little famous when you found your picture on the men's room floor at work.  One of the staff members decided to take this a step further with a practical joke.  She had a copy posted in all the bathrooms in the building.

I'm not beyond enjoying a practical joke, even when its on me.  But I was mindful that clients were often in the building and might take mild offense at this.  I could have been a little perturbed with her, and made her take them all down.  Instead I played a little practical joke myself.  I walked into her office (she was out) and told her office mate that I had received a call from the land lord notifying me of the newsletter posted in the bathrooms, and that he considered that in poor taste.  I spun on my heel and walked out.

About an hour later, she comes boiling into my office.  She was beside herself apologizing for her mistake, and told me that she had taken them all down.  After letting her stew for a little bit, I told her, "That's okay, because I didn't get a phone call from the land lord."  She hit me on the shoulder and we had a good laugh about it all.

The point: Be creative with people and organizations.  Try to develop another skill or two for your tool bag. You needn't be heavy handed in every situation.  Sometimes the soft approach not only gets the message across, but also strengthens the team and increases confidence in one another.