Monkey see, monkey do

Monkey see, monkey do a saying that originated in Jamaica in the early 18th century. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works, it’s been a while I am working in a consulting role and find it so difficult for people to try something different. There is a lot of reluctance in leaders today to take a decision, I’m surprised that people want to make popular decisions no matter they are right or wrong the focus is more to keep everyone  in a comfort zone.

Last few years there has been a lot of unrest and in the name of economy and caution people have stopped thinking; the learning process is simply stopped at every node. Unless we do things differently during a turbulent period we will not be able to raise the bar. It’s easy to talk big… the question is are you really thinking big… and if you are thinking big do you have the real capable people who can execute. I have seen in in the past in an organization two senior leaders moved in and moved out, as they got in there was a lot of optimism and upbeat enthusiasm and soon things went down the drain, we all start well but soon succumb to the situation at hand and with people around things don’t move.

I’m surprised that people quit a company and join another, while this is called as growth in career the question that haunts me is cant a person grow in the same organization, why can’t the current organization retain him/her and there is someone else who is picking him/her at a price higher than his current organization pays.

Well… what happens after that… let me illustrate this with the below story…

A group of scientists placed five monkeys in a cage, a ladder and few bananas on the top of it.  Every time the monkey went up the ladder scientists socked the other monkeys in the room with a cold shower. After sometime no monkey dared to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation.

The scientists then decided to replace one of the monkeys with a new one, the first thing the new monkey did was go up the ladder and immediately the other monkeys beat him up, after several beatings the new member learnt no to climb the ladder even though he never knew why.

The scientists then replaced one more monkey and the same thing occurred, surprisingly the first monkey was replaced too participated in beating the second monkey with the rest in the room.

The third monkey was changed and the same thing happened; now both the new monkeys in the room with rest of the two old one participated in beating the new monkey. The fourth monkey was replaced and same thing occurred again and finally the fifth monkey was replaced the same thing happened it was beaten down with the other four.

What was left was a group of five monkeys that even though never received a cold shower continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder.

If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to climb the ladder the answer for sure will be “I DON’T KNOW … THAT’S HOW THINGS ARE DONE AROUND HERE”

Have you ever in your tenure working with your organization or business heard a similar statement, and then it’s more important to first change the thought process of the people even before attempting to climb the ladder, if not go ahead and change the entire set of pople and bring new ones in who have not gone thru the similar shower treatment. This will bring in a new paradigm. Change management is not about managing the status quo and replacing manual process with digitization or bringing in new tools, over a period of time the one who brought the tool will move on and the tool will remain, times change, process changes but the tool sticks around ….

Not sure… but I guess you too would have come across a similar situation in your career… will be happy to listen your comments and perhaps changes you brought in standing up against the tide as a leader..