Fable Of Felix The Flying Frog

[uk666]

Fable Of Felix The Flying Frog

A Parable about schedules, cycle times, and shaping new behaviours.

The author is unknown. Its staying power owes to the many points it illustrates, some subtly and some not so subtly. It has great utility as a discussion piece for use in reflecting on life in organizations and life in general for that matter. Toward that end, you will find some potentially useful questions at the end of this version.

Lessons in Very Bad Management: From the early 1970s.

Felix the Flying Frog:

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Clarence who had a pet frog named Felix. 

Clarence lived a modestly comfortable existence on what he earned working at the Wal-Mart, but he always dreamed of being rich. "Felix!" he exclaimed one day, "We're going to be rich! I'm going to teach you how to fly!"

Felix, of course, was terrified at the prospect: "I can't fly, you idiot! I'm a frog, not a canary!"

Clarence, disappointed at the initial reaction, told Felix: "That negative attitude of yours could be a real problem. I'm sending you to class."  So, Felix went to a three-day class and learned about problem solving, time management, and effective communication. 

But nothing about flying. On the first day of "flying lessons", Clarence could barely control his excitement (and Felix could barely control his bladder). 

Clarence explained that their apartment had 15 floors, and each day Felix would jump out of a window starting with the first floor eventually getting to the top floor.

After each jump, Felix would analyse how well he flew, isolate on the most effective flying techniques, and implement the improved process for the next flight. By the time they reached the top floor, Felix would surely be able to fly.

Felix pleaded for his life, but it fell on deaf ears. "He just doesn't understand how important this is," thought Clarence, "but I won't let nay-sayers get in my way."

So, with that, Clarence opened the window and threw Felix out (who landed with a thud).

Next day (poised for his second flying lesson) Felix again begged not to be thrown out of the window. With that, Clarence opened his pocket guide to Managing More Effectively and showed Felix the part about how one must always expect resistance when implementing new programs.

And with that, he threw Felix out the window. (THUD)

On the third day (at the third floor) Felix tried a different ploy: stalling, he asked for a delay in the "project" until better weather would make flying conditions more favourable.

But Clarence was ready for him:  he produced a timeline and pointed to the third milestone and asked, "You don't want to slip the schedule, do you?"

From his training, Felix knew that not jumping today would mean that he would have to jump TWICE tomorrow, so he just said: "OK. Let's go." And out the window he went.

Now this is not to say that Felix wasn't trying his best. On the fifth day he flapped his feet madly in a vain attempt to fly. On the sixth day he tied a small red cape around his neck and tried to think "Superman" thoughts.

But try as he might, he couldn't fly.

By the seventh day, Felix (accepting his fate) no longer begged for mercy. He simply looked at Clarence and said: "You know you're killing me, don't you?"

Clarence pointed out that Felix's performance so far had been less than exemplary, failing to meet any of the milestone goals he had set for him.

With that, Felix said quietly: "Shut up and open the window," and he leaped out, taking careful aim on the large jagged rock by the corner of the building. And Felix went to that great lily pad in the sky.

Clarence was extremely upset, as his project had failed to meet a single goal that he set out to accomplish. Felix had not only failed to fly; he didn't even learn how to steer his flight as he fell like a sack of cement, nor did he improve his productivity when Clarence had told him to "Fall smarter, not harder."

The only thing left for Clarence to do was to analyse the process and try to determine where it had gone wrong. After much thought, Clarence smiled and said:

"Next time I'm getting a smarter frog!"

The story tells how a man named Clarence tries to teach his pet frog Felix, to fly. Of course, initially, his efforts are met with failure. But Clarence has been to many management and self-help seminars and he is armed with all the tricks to improve performance.

He has Felix think positive thoughts. He has him set goals. He challenges him to overcome his limitations. And through it all, Felix continues to fail. Not just a little. He is an utter failure, at every single task. 

Clarence understands the value of pushing your employees to excel, so he continues throwing Felix out of progressively higher windows. And it’s not like Felix wasn’t trying. 

He wanted to improve. But result of the failure is completely attributed to Felix not trying hard enough.

The story, obviously is a metaphor for business. But it sends a different message than many of the self-help guides.

Instead of the message:
“You can be anything you set your heart to”

The message should be:
“You simply can’t do certain things”

This is particularly relevant when delivering complex projects where certain elements need to be considered and evaluated to ensure:

• the investment has value, importance, and relevance
• the implementation will be properly managed
• the organisation has the capability to deliver the benefits
• the organisation’s resources are working on the highest value opportunities
• initiatives with inter-dependencies are undertaken in the optimum sequence

Some Questions:

1. How did Clarence's expectations get so out of line with Felix' capabilities and how might better alignment have been achieved?
2. Why did Clarence reach so quickly for training as a solution?
3. What role did the power differential between Clarence and Felix play in shaping the course of events?
4. Why was Felix so compliant, even in the face of his own destruction?
5. What blinded Clarence to the role he played in the failure of his attempt to make Felix fly?
6. What talent did Felix possess that might actually have made Clarence and he rich and why didn't Clarence see that?
7. The message is defining your goals more precisely. If we change the frog for a human, any human and that human will fail also but what if we change the manager?
8. Don't you think Clarence should have noticed the frog could TALK And could Clarence have made lots money by having a talking frog. but he was too enraptured about flying