14 Aug 06 @ 1:53 pm
Leadership Lessons from Exotic Animal Trainers
A recent New York Times article (password needed) profiled an interesting book by Amy Sutherland on Life and Lessons at the World’s Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers. She suggested that the same techniques may work on your spouse and children. I suggest that you try some with your direct reports. Rather than allowing negative behaviors from those around you to produce “occasional sarcasm” and “slow boil resentment” in yourself, she shares some of these common sense leadership lessons from the best exotic animal trainers in the country:
- Reward good behavior and ignore bad—as managers, parents, and spouses know, it’s the simplest and hardest thing to do.
- Use “approximations” by rewarding small steps in learning—you can’t expect a dolphin to flip with one command, just as you can’t expect a subordinate to be concise after one conversation.
- Create incompatible behaviors to substitute for annoying ones—if your direct (or child) is hovering before an important meeting (dinner), give him or her something to do to help prepare.
- And L.R.S. or the “least reinforcing syndrome” which means that any response—positive or negative—fuels a behavior, and if a behavior provokes no response, it will go away.
posted in category(s): Coaching Points
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