Like the Chimp in the Cage

A note from Gene...

I was recently watching an interesting episode of Animal Planet. It was about a 13 year old chimpanzee that had been abused and held captive in a concrete cage for her entire life. At the start of the episode, the chimp had been rescued and transferred to a beautiful natural habitat complete with grass and trees – and lots of room to roam. She had access to an enclosed space (not unlike her prior cage) but could, at any time, exit through an open door to get to the outside world. Upon arrival, the chimpanzee was carefully placed in the enclosed space and then escorted outside to see the beautiful green world she’d now have access to. Her immediate reaction was to retreat hurriedly into the enclosure where she remained for eight entire days until she could be lovingly coaxed, cajoled, enticed – and finally lured outside. The behavior of apes has always intrigued me because they are so much like humans. This particular chimp’s behavior reminded me of some of some of my clients and their underperforming employees. Perhaps if you read on, you’ll see the similarity in the circumstances and the remedy.

Like the Chimp in the cage

"The problem is that people fear change, resist it, fight it and often end up sabotaging what they might even consciously agree are a good means to move things forward." ~ Ken Eisold, PhD (staff writer – Psychology Today)

One of the more common complaints I hear from my clients involves their frustration with underperforming employees – particularly those who are both intelligent and competent, but seem to lack the confidence or the desire to strengthen their performance. Rather, kind of like the fearful chimp in the cage, they keep themselves small and avoid risk taking, decision making, strategic thinking and, at all costs, failure. Not all people want to grow themselves professionally. Lots of people have their focus elsewhere. Still, there are many who would like to be challenged and to grow, but they don’t. All too often, these intelligent and competent underperformers have grown up in a fear-based corporate environment created by perfectionistic micromanagers or verbally abusive authority figures. And even when the fear-generating culprits are removed from the scene, they keep themselves small and remain reluctant to break out of the box they have grown accustomed to. These people hold a lot of promise – and as a leader, you can help them to break free of their limiting shackles. How you can do this is not rocket science. But it does require time and attention. Here are a few suggestions you can easily apply to help underperformers break out of the cage:

1. Build trusting, caring relationships by spending time with these people, offering to mentor their growth. Hold out your hand in a sincere effort to offer support. If they decline, try again another time. If they accept, follow the suggestions below.

2. While mentoring or training these individuals, look for opportunities to work on a small project together. Guide them carefully with your own expertise and, whenever possible, solicit their suggestions about handling some aspects of the task at hand. Even if their ideas aren’t as good as yours, let them run with the ball.

3. Look for opportunities to find them doing these things right – and compliment them in a meaningful way. If they make mistakes along the way, be sure they know that mistakes are an inevitable aspect of growth. Share an experience where you made a mistake in your career and had an invaluable learning experience as a result. Revealing your vulnerability builds trust.

4. Once they have begun to excel in a particular area, assign them the responsibility to lead a similar task the next time it comes around. Or, you might ask them to mentor another individual on the team who has yet to learn that particular skill.

Under such favorable conditions, I have seen strong performers and even stars emerge where only average or sub average players previously seemed to exist. Like the chimp in the cage, people generally respond well to encouragement that is both patient and kind. As a leader, consider incorporating these tactics into your repertoire of skills. The results will surely be worth the effort.