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The Year of the Monkey has arrived in the lunar calendar bringing in
wittiness, cleverness, intellectual curiosity, and, of course, fun and mischievousness.
The Buddha used Monkey as a vivid metaphor: “Just as a monkey, swinging through a forest wilderness, grabs a branch. Letting go of it, it grabs another branch. Letting go of that, it grabs another one...In the same way, what’s called ‘mind,’ ‘intellect,’ or ‘consciousness’ by day and by night arises as one thing and ceases as another.” (Samyutta Nikaya 12.61) BJ Gallagher pushes the destructive side of the metaphor further, describing our minds as “drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering, carrying on endlessly.” (Buddha: How to Tame Your Monkey Mind in the Huffington Post.)
Monkey, therefore, is a great symbol for our distracted,
do-more-with-less, fractured Whacky Workplaces. But Monkey has other alleged
characteristics we can use to create a more productive environment; hard work,
adaptable, fast learner, clever, intelligent, many interests, disciplined,
creative, and fun.
Think about your current work environment. Which part of Monkey’s
persona describes it best? Which Monkey comes out to play? Positive
environments invite us to be creative and use our full spectrum of talents and
brain power while negative ones simply drive us to distraction, suppressing our
initiative and creativity.
Nine is a lucky numbers for Monkey. Here are 9 tips to
keep those Naughty Monkeys at bay, free up our Ingenious Monkeys to counter the
Whacky Workplace and create an environment where we can tap into all our
positive traits.
Monkey works very hard: In a Whacky Workplace hard work
is not rewarded. In fact, the boss often assigns more work because of poor
delegation and management. We know we are supposed to work smarter. Hard-working
Monkey knows the secret; work very hard on the most important tasks aimed at
accomplishing objectives and getting necessary results.
Monkey adapts: In a Whacky Workplace the situation is
always fluid and chaotic, lurching from crisis to crisis. Adaptable Monkey doesn’t
waste time bemoaning the situation, gossiping, or supporting dysfunction. Adaptable
Monkey focuses on objectives and results, figuring out HOW to get the job done.
Monkey is a fast learner: The Whacky Workplace lacks
formal training and education and teaches the wrong lessons. Learning Monkey
wants to learn and use every resource available to increase knowledge and
skills. Learning Monkey is always proactive and never sits back waiting for the
company to provide training.
Monkey is clever: The Whacky Workplace ignores ways to
improve. Clever Monkey cannot resist seeking a better way to get the job done. Clever
Monkey wants to improve efficiency AND effectiveness, asking, “How can I make
this better for our customers and colleagues?”
Monkey is intelligent: The Whacky Workplace is DUMB,
wasting time, money, people’s abilities, and everything else. Intelligent Monkey
is too smart for that sort of nonsense. Intelligent Monkey harnesses brainpower
to analyze the situation, finds the root cause, tries out solutions to solve
the problem, and thinks ahead to prevent problems in the future.
Monkey has many interests: In a Whacky Workplace, only
the Distracted Monkey is encouraged with endless incentives to multitask. But Interested
Monkey knows neuroscience; the human brain cannot multitask but moves from task
to task and back again, eliminating focus and flow. Interested Monkey focuses
on the most important tasks, getting results and meeting goals before grabbing
the next interest branch.
Monkey has discipline: In a Whacky Workplace,
self-discipline goes out the window. In these environments being disciplined
and focused is seen as a negative when everyone else acts like drunken monkeys.
Disciplined Monkey creates an oasis in the chaos so important work can go on. Disciplined
Monkeys and their teams keep on turning out results.
Monkey is creative: In a Whacky Workplace, creativity is consumed in
survival. Creative Monkey keeps creative intelligence focused on creating new
goals, inventing new products, and anticipating customer needs. “Thrival” is
Creative Monkey’s watchword.
Monkey has fun: In a Whacky Workplace, fun is off the menu. In fact,
communication, relationship-building, and cohesion are frowned upon, while fear,
cliques, and internal competition are promoted. Fun Monkey knows play releases
our creative and intellectual powers. Fun Monkey focuses on building strong
teams who enjoy working and playing hard together. Fun Monkey makes sure we
celebrate milestones, holidays, birthdays, and exult in the pure joy of life.
Let all these great Monkeys loose in your workplace, your team, and your
life. Monkey around a little and enjoy the results in greater productivity, better
results, and happier team members.
Monkey Business is Good Business.
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Find out how your organizations compares to the Whacky Workplace. Take this short survey bit.ly/1ir731H and discover where you score on the
Whack-O-Meter (designed by Mischievous Monkey.)
Looking forward to your comments on the Year of the Monkey.
