“Right person, Wrong seat”
I often show this cartoon early on in my Working Genius consulting sessions to start the conversation about the kind of tasks that most suit each team member. What do you notice?
The monkey is smiling.
The elephant seems to be thinking, “What in the world”?
The seal looks confused.
The most memorable response I had was when one of the participants remarked,“ That’s it! I’m a fish that is asked to climb a tree every day … and I am miserable.”
She absolutely loved the company she was working for. She genuinely enjoyed, appreciated, and admired the people she worked with.
But she hated her job and did not understand why.
This cartoon brought to light why that was true.
As we introduced and discussed the working geniuses of each team member, she realized that her geniuses were not in line with her daily job. Her job description required her to spend a lot of her time at work completing tasks in her working frustrations.
She was a fish trying to climb a tree.
Jim Collins’ 2001 book Good to Great coined the phrase, “Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”
Perhaps you have been in the right organization but in the wrong seat. Or maybe you’ve been in a position of leadership and recognize when personnel are either in the wrong seat or maybe even on the wrong bus altogether.
This podcast by Craig Groeschel gives some great insight and practical advice to the “Right person, Wrong seat” idea.
Be careful not to confuse loyalty with fit.
Maybe the person isn’t paired with the right type of boss.
Perhaps the employee needs some specific support to help remove friction.
It could be the wrong season of life for the person to be tackling this position.
Being on the right bus and in the right seat is a huge win all around. It may take some time to sort out the bus from the seat, and you may need some help discerning this. But it’s worth it.
Your time and energy are too valuable trying to climb a tree when you should be spending your time swimming.
