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Wise as a snake; Innocent as a dove
Monday, May 7, 2012
[7:43 AM]
Do you ever wonder about the meaning behind the phrase 'Wise as a snake'?
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the latter phrase - 'innocent as a dove' really means. It's mostly about ridding yourself of hidden agendas and ulterior motives that result in your personal gain. Simple enough, don't you think?
It all boils down to how sincere you are in helping people to reach their potential. In other words, it depends on how centered your mind is on achieving a 'win-win' solution, as Stephen Covey would say.
I think the key to being as innocent as a dove is to keep your focus on the interests of others - that is, setting your mind on wanting the best for them. If you put your personal interests aside, you'll have no malice to deal with in your heart at all.
Yet, being that focused on others can sometimes create an irritating blind spot. When you keep the focus on others, you end up trying to please everyone - I think you can testify that doing that is indeed an impossible task. Everyone, has a different idea on what the best solution would be (mostly because their ideal solutions are often coloured by their own self-serving interests) and so a team can end up reaching no solution at the end of the whole fiasco.
To make matters worse, you yourself become so caught up in trying to meet everyone's needs that you end up wasting time, energy and resources on things that don't really matter. You get frustrated, angry and even lonely, all because you're too absorbed in trying to make things work for everyone. And that's where being as wise as a snake comes into play.
Wait. What? A Snake? Isn't being wise the Owl's attribute? Actually, I think it's pretty much the same. The analogy is talking about being watchful and calculated. That requires a certain degree of self-awareness - the art of separating yourself from a given situation to get an objective assessment on what needs to be done.
If you've worked in a team before, you've probably come across a situation where you have to decide how task-oriented or people-oriented you want to be. As cheesy as it might sound, balance is really the goal you should be shooting for.
See, being caught in a dilemma like that is kind of a Sucker's Choice. While a third option is not always available, there is usually *one hidden option* buried deep in the dust, waiting to be uncovered. Think about it. If you aren't people-oriented enough, people simply won't work their best for you, because you don't deserve it. And if you aren't task-oriented enough, you might sometimes end up shortchanging a fellow teammate of an opportunity to grow and reach his/her potential.
It is important to make a distinction between caring about people's well-being and caring about people's feelings. You may think that scolding a child will hurt his feelings - which is bad. But if you're scolding a child because you know that he's doing something wrong or that he's capable of doing better, you are actually doing it out of a spirit of protection and/or a spirit of mentoring (a caveat here - this doesn't apply if you're gaining a power trip out of your display of authority).
Just like a snake, you have to get a feel of the situation around you. Stick your tongue in the air (figuratively speaking of course! what's wrong with you!) and try to get a sense of people's agendas, strengths, weaknesses and potential growth opportunities. Then set your sights on your prey (the team's objectives) and strike accordingly! If you do this right, you'll be less surprised by Murphy's Law and you'll have a greater ability in responding to different situations that crop up.
So finding the balance between being people-oriented and being task-oriented is essential. Once you've found that sweet spot, you'll be getting stellar performance. And even better - you'll be giving people growth and satisfaction from the work they've done.
Listen...I'm no master at this myself. In my day (I am so very young..too young to be using this phrase), I've tread on plenty of toes. But I think all of us can get better at finding the balance. It's a win for everyone in the long-run after all. Wise as a snake; Innocent as a dove :)
|
Wise as a snake; Innocent as a dove
Monday, May 7, 2012
[7:43 AM]
Do you ever wonder about the meaning behind the phrase 'Wise as a snake'?
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the latter phrase - 'innocent as a dove' really means. It's mostly about ridding yourself of hidden agendas and ulterior motives that result in your personal gain. Simple enough, don't you think?
It all boils down to how sincere you are in helping people to reach their potential. In other words, it depends on how centered your mind is on achieving a 'win-win' solution, as Stephen Covey would say.
I think the key to being as innocent as a dove is to keep your focus on the interests of others - that is, setting your mind on wanting the best for them. If you put your personal interests aside, you'll have no malice to deal with in your heart at all.
Yet, being that focused on others can sometimes create an irritating blind spot. When you keep the focus on others, you end up trying to please everyone - I think you can testify that doing that is indeed an impossible task. Everyone, has a different idea on what the best solution would be (mostly because their ideal solutions are often coloured by their own self-serving interests) and so a team can end up reaching no solution at the end of the whole fiasco.
To make matters worse, you yourself become so caught up in trying to meet everyone's needs that you end up wasting time, energy and resources on things that don't really matter. You get frustrated, angry and even lonely, all because you're too absorbed in trying to make things work for everyone. And that's where being as wise as a snake comes into play.
Wait. What? A Snake? Isn't being wise the Owl's attribute? Actually, I think it's pretty much the same. The analogy is talking about being watchful and calculated. That requires a certain degree of self-awareness - the art of separating yourself from a given situation to get an objective assessment on what needs to be done.
If you've worked in a team before, you've probably come across a situation where you have to decide how task-oriented or people-oriented you want to be. As cheesy as it might sound, balance is really the goal you should be shooting for.
See, being caught in a dilemma like that is kind of a Sucker's Choice. While a third option is not always available, there is usually *one hidden option* buried deep in the dust, waiting to be uncovered. Think about it. If you aren't people-oriented enough, people simply won't work their best for you, because you don't deserve it. And if you aren't task-oriented enough, you might sometimes end up shortchanging a fellow teammate of an opportunity to grow and reach his/her potential.
It is important to make a distinction between caring about people's well-being and caring about people's feelings. You may think that scolding a child will hurt his feelings - which is bad. But if you're scolding a child because you know that he's doing something wrong or that he's capable of doing better, you are actually doing it out of a spirit of protection and/or a spirit of mentoring (a caveat here - this doesn't apply if you're gaining a power trip out of your display of authority).
Just like a snake, you have to get a feel of the situation around you. Stick your tongue in the air (figuratively speaking of course! what's wrong with you!) and try to get a sense of people's agendas, strengths, weaknesses and potential growth opportunities. Then set your sights on your prey (the team's objectives) and strike accordingly! If you do this right, you'll be less surprised by Murphy's Law and you'll have a greater ability in responding to different situations that crop up.
So finding the balance between being people-oriented and being task-oriented is essential. Once you've found that sweet spot, you'll be getting stellar performance. And even better - you'll be giving people growth and satisfaction from the work they've done.
Listen...I'm no master at this myself. In my day (I am so very young..too young to be using this phrase), I've tread on plenty of toes. But I think all of us can get better at finding the balance. It's a win for everyone in the long-run after all. Wise as a snake; Innocent as a dove :)
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