You can’t push a pig in a truck: change is about choice
We always had at least one pig on the farm, and sometimes more. I loved my pigs. They were pretty and smart. The one I think about the most is Snowball, a 350-pound white Yorkshire pig. Snowball got pretty farted. If you scratch his tummy, he will first try to help you scratch while standing on three legs like a dog. Then she would give up and turn around to give me full access to her tummy. She would lie there and enjoy scratching as long as I gave it to her.
A couple of times a year, when Dad noticed Snowball was ready, we’d transport her to the neighbor’s farm for a social visit. One summer day, it was time for the aforementioned social visit to the neighbor’s wild boar. (Dad used this experience to serve the purpose of the traditional back-of-the-barn chat.) Dad found my older brother, Joe, and me and informed us, “Time to take Snowball to the Howeiller farm. I’ve got a couple of things to do.” I have the truck in the pigsty. Go down and load it up and I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. We tended to do what dad said since he was a high school principal and a professional rower in those days. Joe and I headed for the pigsty and sure enough there was the truck in the middle of the pen and a ramp leaning against the fence. We grabbed the ramp, put it on the back of the truck, and backed up to make room for Snowball. Snowball, being the curious animal that he was, started up the ramp. Then he stopped and looked around. Fearing that we would lose all the territory we had accidentally gained without any effort, we each placed a shoulder against a hindquarter of the pig and began to push it toward the truck. I meant we tried to push the pig into the truck. Our approach was doomed to fail. When Snowball felt the pressure on his rear, he automatically pushed against the pressure and stepped back. Since he outweighed both of us combined, he dumped Joe into a puddle of mud on one side of the ramp and left me teetering on the edge of the other. And if you know anything about pig mud puddles, they’re not the best places to be.
Around this time, Dad turned the corner of the barn and saw Joe face down in a puddle and me anticipating my own splash in the puddle. He burst into a fit of laughter like I’ve never seen before. He doubled over and nearly choked. I couldn’t help my own plunge and Joe and I came out wiping the dirty mud from our faces. Within minutes, when the laughter died down, Dad looked at us and exclaimed, “Boys, I taught you how to carry a pig. That’s not the way to do it.” He walked to the nearby barn, picked up a small metal cup of shelled corn, made a little Hansel and Gretel trail down the ramp, and tossed the rest into the front of the truck bed. Within three minutes, Snowball was loaded and proud to be there. From that moment I remembered: “You can’t push a pig into a truck.”
The goal of a leader is to motivate employees to do the “right” things according to the specific needs of the business. Some leaders believe that their followers will do what the leader says simply because of their role. Others rely on his charisma for employee loyalty and obedience. Fortunately or unfortunately, these beliefs often do not manifest in real life.
I spend a lot of time in organizations trying to help employees choose behaviors that will allow the organization to succeed in today’s difficult business environment. Sometimes I am frustrated by the inability of employees to choose to work together for a common goal.
The pig story has helped me make a point in my training sessions for years. I explain that in this characteristic I am not so different from Snowball. When people have tried to force me to do things and I didn’t understand the purpose, I tended to resist. If people know how the change will help them personally, they will be able to make objective decisions.
You cannot force people to do anything, however people tend to choose to do things that they believe will satisfy their needs. Leaders must tell their followers the whys behind the initiatives they select for the good of the business. Remember, you cannot push a pig into a truck.
