Never Teach a Pig to Sing

I saw a sign in a bar that caught my attention. It read: "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It is a waste of your time, and it annoys the pig." Not any different from executive training and development. When you want to develop a great leadership team you need the right players with the right talent to be developed. So many managers want to create superstars out of also-rans, but you can't teach a pig to sing. Don't get me wrong, training and development is critical to leadership success, but you need good raw materials and talent to start with. Focus on what is there to be developed instead of trying to put in what isn’t there.

1. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out

How many times have your played the "If only" game when talking about employees? Whenever you are dealing with employee or leader performance remember skills and knowledge can be taught and processed into results, while talent is something given. When your "if Only" comments revolve around, "If only she had a better understanding of how to follow up with her staff," or, "If only he knew the proper techniques for delivering a performance evaluation…" These are types of things that can be learned. But if you are wishing for such things as, "If only, he didn't have such a temper, if only he could handle the pressure better, if only he liked being around people", then you are trying to put in what was left out, and your returns are going to be below your expectations and your investment of time, energy and money.

2. Try to draw out what was left in

When developing leaders and employees it is best to find out where their strengths are and further develop what they do well. Obviously, not all leaders are created equal and there is no singular right way to manage and lead people. Analyze what your leaders are doing well, and figure out how to go deeper in the development of those things. The key is in figuring out what is keeping them from being a pinnacle performer. Is it like I mentioned previously, that they just don't have the talent for the position or is it in there and just need to be drawn our and better developed?

They say in basketball you can't teach height. Yet, All-American Tyler Hansbrough of the University of North Carolina was able to overcome his height disadvantage against most opponents by drawing on his strengths of tenacity and non-stop full speed ahead approach to the game. The coach knows he is better served by fueling the strengths Tyler has instead of wishing he would grow a few more inches!

Are you wishing your leaders would simply grow something they don't have or are you investing in developing what they already have in order to make them better? Evaluate your leadership team and note where they have talent that needs to be developed rather than trying to fill them with something they didn’t have, because sometimes teaching them to do what they are incapable of is a waste of your time, and annoys the manager.