The investment I made with Eric to coach one of my key managers has been well worth it.
The Circus Fleas
The author and speaker John Maxwell once told the story of the circus fleas. These fleas had been trained to jump just to the rim of the open glass jar that they lived in, but no higher.
“How did you train those fleas to stay put?” someone asked the flea trainer.
“Simple” he responded. “For a week or so, we kept the lid on the jar. The fleas would jump and slam their heads on the bottom of the lid. Pretty soon, they realized it was a lot more comfortable to jump to a point just below the lid. They still got to jump, but they did not get their little heads bashed in. Then, we just took off the lid. The memory of hitting the lid was enough to keep them in even when the lid was gone.”
Performance Principle: The circus fleas got content with making smaller jumps because it hurt less to do so. As leaders, we are responsible for identifying changes in the environment that allow our people to achieve goals today they could not achieve yesterday. Sometimes our environment has changed, but out behavior has not changed along with it. If you recognize that the ‘lid’ that once kept you down has been lifted, you may free yourself to jump higher than you have been. Challenges that used to be too difficult for you may now be in reach.
Questions to consider:
- What problems proved too difficult to overcome one year ago?
- Has the situation changed today?
- Are you assuming there are limits on your performance that no longer exist?
