Being a Duck is not the best thing, especially during hunting season! Eagle School, here I come!

If you want to soar, don’t send your ducks to Eagle School! One of the main purposes of Leadership (as we know it) is to add value to others but be it as it may, not everyone responds in the same way. Some people will change, some won’t.  In fact, it can be very frustrating, not only for the leaders trying to evoke the change(s) but for those that the changes are for. What this clearly means is that good people are found and not changed. Motivated people are found. It is far harder to motivate the unmotivatable. To quote a line from a famous hotel chain…”We do not teach our people to be nice.” “We hire nice people”. Now don’t get me wrong on this as there are a good number of people who are motivatable but it is more so that they already know how to be nice. It is just that they have forgotten how to be.
There are 3 good reasons as to why you would not want to send your ducks to eagle school:
1. If you send your ducks to Eagle School, you will frustrate the ducks. The bottom line to this as was the case in the ugly duckling is that ducks are not supposed to be eagles nor do they want to be.  Ducks do have their strengths (and weaknesses). They swim and migrate well, together. Eagles on the other hand would find these tasks daunting. Leadership is all about placing the right people in the right place to help guarantee their success.
2. If you send ducks to Eagle School it will frustrate the Eagles. Eagles don’t live in barnyards. They were born for one reason…to soar! Thus, hanging with ducks causes them a great deal of impatience. They don’t want to be held back. As a leader, you should always challenge people to move out of their comfort zone, but never and I stress, never, out of their strength zone.
3. If you send ducks to Eagle School, you will FRUSTRATE yourself. I am sure we have all experienced situations whereby people have not risen up and fulfilled our expectations. This sometimes happens to parents but that will be another entry another time. No matter how much training, motivation and provision of the best resources they just did not rise to the occasion.  It is very important for a leader to get the right people in the organization and put them in the right positions.
I am sure you are like me in that for years you have been exposed to all sorts of personality assessments and traits. And of course, we take it for what it is worth but don’t always put what it is worth into effect. Having just finished a certification course on Human Behavior, I came to realize that I had to deal with my own traits before I could work and deal with others. If you haven’t recently participated in a personality assessment, I would strongly recommend that you do. Contact me and we can discuss this. What has this got to do with ducks and eagles…well just about everything.
One thing is for certain, that no matter how hard you try or want something for someone, if they are not ready or want it themselves you probably won’t make an impact on them. What I have been experiencing lately are Turning Point or eureka moments in my life. Clearly, it is because I am ready to realize that I am ready to realize. That may sound like a play on words but there are times when I can be a duck and times when I can be an eagle. I will tell you that being an eagle is much better and produces better results in the long run.  And of major significance, I have learned that no matter duck or eagle, that my attitude is always showing so better to show a good attitude than not. Remember that we are always in first impression mode and that our attitude displayed may come back and quack like a duck when we are trying to be that Eagle. If you need eagles, then go out and find the eagles. If they are not to be found in your organization, then you must go outside the organization. If you need ducks, then find ducks but know that you should always look for that eagle who has great potential and that you can develop into a great Eagle! Remember that being a duck is not a popular thing during hunting season as compared to being that eagle who is the hunter. So let’s quit quacking and start soaring!Eagle1
Thoughts and comments welcome. How would you rate the comparison of those around you? How many Eagles have you come across?  Are you being the eagle today?

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