Practical Professional Development Training Catalogue - Catalog - Page 6
What is Goldfish Polishing?
A Cautionary Tale
Once upon a time, there was a goldfish.
It was an unhappy little fish. It was all green and slimy, with algae trailing from its fins and
its gills as it moped about in its fishpond.
Then, one day, a Very Concerned Person came along and took the goldfish out of the
pond. The Very Concerned Person polished up the goldfish, so that it was all bright and
shiny.
Happy little goldfish.
The goldfish became highly motivated to show the world what a really shiny goldfish
could do. It couldn’t wait to get back into the pond to tell all the other goldfish.
But sadly, when it was put back into the pond, none of the other goldfish understood why
the really shiny goldfish was so motivated, so the slime and the algae quickly grew back
over its scales and its fins and gills.
After a couple of days in the pond, it was impossible to tell that the Very Concerned Person had ever polished the goldfish.
For Goldfish, read ‘participant’.
For Very Concerned Person, read ‘Facilitator’.
And for fishpond, read ‘organisation’.
Source: How Shiny is Your Goldfish? And Other Cautionary
Tales, Looking beyond the hype of management fads and
the spurious promise of the packaged quick fix.
– Dennis Pratt
As Facilitators we can only do so much. It is up to the
individual and the organisation to take the training to the
next level. We can help with coaching. You will have a
lifeline back to that motivation you got from our
program and hang onto some of the enthusiasm to
make the changes you know will help your team.
To find out more go to ChooseYourCourse.com.au
