BANANA'S IN BUSINESS

Banana’s in Business

Quite a number of years ago I came across this change management story from a business brief that is no longer in publication.

“In the 1950’s a large Technology Institute in the US carried out an experiment.

There was a large cage of Iron bars. In the middle of the cage was a set of spiral stairs leading up to a platform. Dangling from the top of the cage above the platform was a Banana.

The scientists placed five chimpanzees into the cage. They took their time to review their new surroundings and of course spotted the Banana dangling from the bars above the platform.

The bravest of the five started to make its way up the stairs. Climbing up until it stood on the platform.

It reached up to grab the Banana. As soon as the chimp touched the Banana the whole of the cage was sprayed with freezing cold water, soaking all the chimpanzees. The brave chimp scurried back down to his companions.

After a while another chimp started the ascent. As soon as it touched the Banana the whole cage was again spayed with freezing cold water. From then on the Banana and the stairs were left alone.

The scientists them removed a chimpanzee from the group and replaced it with a new one. It sat there, reviewed its surroundings, saw the stairs and the platform, and of course the Banana. It started towards the foot of the stairs. The fours original chimps of course knew if it touched the Banana they would all be sprayed with freezing water so they jumped on the new chimp and beat him up to stop him going any further. It tried again with the same result, so decided it was best if it just ignored the Banana.

The scientists then removed a second original chimp. Again the new chimp sat there, reviewed its surroundings, saw the stairs and the platform, and the Banana. It started towards the foot of the stairs. The original three chimps jumped on the new chimp to stop them being sprayed with freezing cold water, the first new chimp joined in on the basis “well they did it to me”. The Banana continued to be ignored.

Again the scientists removed an original chimp. The new chimp sat there, reviewed its surroundings, saw the stairs and the platform, and the Banana. As with the last change the two original chimps jumped on the new chimp as it started towards the stairs, and the two new chimps joined in as that is what has happened to them. No Banana.

Eventually all the original chimps have been swapped, but none approach the stairs or the Banana. Why? BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN!

Many years ago I would ask my Accounting Team Manager why we did something in a particular way. “Banana’s” she would reply. So we would revisit the process and decide if it was a requirement, added value or was defunct.

To be world class, to stay ahead of our competitors we should be continually improve and challenge our processes. How can we be better? How can we add value without reducing quality? How can we improve quality? No-one should be afraid to ask why.