Frogs in a Coffee can was an analogy I used today during our peer group discussion. Stuart Crawford (Owner IT Matters in Calgary Canada) and Brad Schow (Compudyne Duluth MN) have now ask me to explain this. Clearly I have located my experiences in KS.
When I was much younger, and now my son, we would catch frogs or toads. We would keep them as pets, bait or just to collect them. So what you do is get an old Folgers can (getting harder to find), the kind with a plastic lid. Then poke holes in the lid for air. And of course put some grass in the can (Make the toad feel at home!) Once you put the toad in the can with the lid on it, they will jump up and keep hitting their head. After a while, the toad will stop trying to jump out. You can even go further and remove the lid for a while and they will not try and jump out!
What does this have to do with business? Well it applies to people’s behavior. You have to give limits (A hard ceiling). People will continue to try the boundaries. After a while behavior will be modified. However, if you do not enforce this ceiling, then the behavior will not change. (IE the toads will escape!)
OK not the most eloquent description ever. Kathy Durfee had a much better description of behavior. Maybe she will post it for us?
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