Not My Circus

Have you heard the Polish proverb, “Not my circus; not my monkeys”?  This came to mind in a recent coaching session with a client who has a tendency to jump in and fix problems that belong to his team members.

Once the client realized that jumping in means he is robbing that person of the opportunity to learn how to solve the problem on their own, we worked on recognizing what triggers him and finding another approach.  He doesn’t like it when people run around with their hair on fire so he will do just about anything to put the fire out.

Repeating “Not my circus; not my monkeys” reminds him not to get caught up in someone else’s craziness.  Then he can step back, calm down and rationally assess whether he needs to get involved – now, later or not at all.

If you tend to be a “fixer” give this a try and get that monkey off your back.