You should give a rat’s ass about your team’s growth
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This week I learned that we’ve managed to teach rats to sniff out land mines. My mind was blown.
It also set off some leadership thoughts. How did they get RATS to sniff out bombs? I read the story and the themes are: Intentional training, lots of feedback and the passing of time.
Does that sound familiar? Hopefully it does. That’s certainly how a lot of my personal development happened. So here’s the really challenging question: Do your colleagues have less potential than rodents?
Obviously the PEOPLE in our teams have a million times more potential to learn and grow than the TNT sniffing giant pouched rats of sub-Saharan Africa.
Now look, people aren’t rodents. So I would hold anyone at least partially responsible for their own personal growth.
But too often we as managers and team leaders stifle their potential by not believing they can do better. By not giving feedback. And by not encouraging them to take on new and challenging things.
It’s like having a growth mindset, but instead of for yourself, its about how you view and invest in your colleagues.
Belgian Bart Weetjens invented the procedure for training the rats. He explained it in a TED talk.
Does that sound familiar? Hopefully it does. That’s certainly how a lot of my personal development happened. So here’s the really challenging question: Do your colleagues have less potential than rodents?
Obviously the PEOPLE in our teams have a million times more potential to learn and grow than the TNT sniffing giant pouched rats of sub-Saharan Africa.
Now look, people aren’t rodents. So I would hold anyone at least partially responsible for their own personal growth.
But too often we as managers and team leaders stifle their potential by not believing they can do better. By not giving feedback. And by not encouraging them to take on new and challenging things.
It’s like having a growth mindset, but instead of for yourself, its about how you view and invest in your colleagues.
Belgian Bart Weetjens invented the procedure for training the rats. He explained it in a TED talk.