How To Apply The Fish! Philosophy (Part 1)

I read Fish by Stephen Covey one summer vacation while sitting poolside. Vacations are meant to be mindless (something I have never been good at), but I couldn’t escape my drive to grow my leadership skills.

From the first page, I was entranced by The Fish Philosophy. It wasn’t a book filled with research or scientific studies on the human mind. Yet it had some of the most powerful concepts easily explained through a short story. I devoured every detail and knew this book was written for me.

As a young leader, I had achieved success and favor in dealing with people. I found that I was easily capable of relating to people, understanding them, and getting them to buy-in to my change methods. This wasn’t a practice of manipulation. God knows, I am no sales person. So I couldn’t put my finger on why this worked like it did, but I knew I was onto something.

Then the “FISH” hit me!

It was the concept of “fun” that I brought with me to the workplace everyday. This was it. This was the trait that set me apart and had given me endless opportunities to make friends and relate to most people. Yes, I was absolutely serious about my career and I didn’t have a lazy bone in my body, but my innate drive to be present and get to know others had been my key to success all along.

As I basked in this breakthrough moment, I came to a quick acceptance and understanding of my skills. You see in my mind “fun” in the workplace was looked down on. It was a sign of immaturity and laziness, or so I was taught. But I knew from my own experience that “fun” with colleagues was where my motivation stemmed from. I now had permission to tap into one of my strongest traits and love every minute of it.

Introvert or extrovert, this philosophy is for everyone. For leaders and for team members. While both personalities can implement these strategies, some practices may be harder at times. Let me break down each practice with some tips for implementation no matter your personality.

#1 – BE THERE

It’s as simple as that. Be there physically and emotionally. Be visible (wherever that may be within your organization). From the pointless meetings to the one on one interactions. Listen to others, respond with relations, and share an emotion. This will build the foundation for tremendous respect and communication.

Introverts

This practice may be harder for your personality. If you enjoy being alone or choose isolation because of a lack of confidence, you will need to mentally and emotionally prepare for this adjustment.

In preparation, it will be important to open up and talk to mentors or other leaders that you are close too. Recognizing that others share the same struggle can be encouraging. Your openness alone will build your confidence, but also sharing ideas will help you find ways to break out of your isolation. When you begin to enjoy others, this practice will become easier each time.

Extroverts

This should be easy for you! You will either be the first one there or the last one in order to make an entrance. The important thing for you to be aware of however, is your ability to be emotionally present.

Emotions in this case do include your ability to laugh or cry with others, but more than that your ability to listen and respond. For you, you must slow down and be quick to listen, and listen, and listen over again…and then slow to speak.

Everyone wants to be heard. Your ability to silence your own voice and put the voice of others as the priority will create amicable trust with each individual.

#2 PLAY

This one is so fun! It gives you freedom to daydream out loud. Adding play to your work setting can spark creativity within your team. Play is a huge practice for changing a negative culture into a positive one.

Introverts

Introverts can easily take the lead when they have the leadership skills. You most likely have the ability to stand before others to direct or share ideas. The struggle comes in when you can be quick to relay information yet tend to leave out detail. These actions are not intentional, but stem from your quiet, inward personality.

In order to play with ideas and share in others intelligence, you must slow down your mind and go back to the basics of being present. Listening is important, but for you, the response must be intentional. Display your emotions of laughter and smiling. And expand upon your ideas verbally. Your team will then be given the opportunity to fully understand where your vision is headed.

Extroverts

The balance of play in this case can be your own worst enemy. You are most likely an expert at having fun and looking for fun in every situation. This is an amazing quality that spotlights positivity among your team. The act of balancing fun versus the play of brainstorming new strategies can easily become off balanced.

This practice calls for an awareness to your teams response. If you see your team following your lead in ways we may stereotype as “cutting up” you have probably led them down the road of too much off task fun. On the same note, if you see your team getting no where with brainstorming and becoming stressed, you will need to break the ice with “fun.”

As a leader this ability can be groundbreaking to an organization, but it only occurs with awareness of yourself and then the awareness of others’ response.

To be continued…

If you can’t tell, I am all about some “fish!” I want to make sure I touch on each practice and the importance of implementation. Stay tuned for Part 2 in order to understand your role in implementing steps three and four.