The Eagle

Picture8The woman who drew this was trim, coiffed and perfectly dressed.  Her blond flip hair-do and “had-to-have-been-a-cheerleader” demeanor did not make ANY sense when she present this map to the group.  She said, “This is me. And I do everything I can to protect my people from all the problems and interference that come down from HQ and senior leadership.  And I’ve got plenty of tools for my people, but they don’t seem to step up to the job.  They are always asking me what to do.  I don’t understand.” People looked left and right, thinking, “you don’t understand?”  She didn’t.  I asked, “Would you be interested in hearing what some of the other characters in your drawing might say?”….I pointed to the chick bottom left, “Can anyone say how they’d feel if they were this character?”  I got several answers, that told the same story, “I can’t do anything because she’s always hovering over me.  So why try.”  She turned in shock. Another said, “She’s standing on the tool box so I have to go through her for everything.”  I pointed out.  “To me, this eagle character looks kind of mean.  I don’t see you that way.”  Every now and then a drawing really packs a punch.  This one had a radical impact on the manager who drew it.  Her positive intent was very strong: to protect and help.  When she saw how much damage her current strategy was doing, her attitude changed – no defensiveness, no bad feelings, just a new opportunity to do it better.

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