While the title of this post may not be familiar to you, here’s a saying that you might be more familiar with: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. In other words, you can show the horse where the water is, but the horse has to make the decision to drink or not. This saying applies to almost any workplace, as it is a basic tenet of communication. There are multiple leadership styles out there, but no matter what style you employ, if you want to get your team to do something right you need to convince them it’s the right thing to do. “Right” is highlighted there because someone can perform a task even if they don’t’ agree with it, but you most likely won’t get their best effort. This is also the point that Glenn Ray makes in his entertaining parable below. My thoughts are immediately following the article in the My Comments section.

You Can’t Push a Pig into a Truck: Change is all about Choice
By Glenn Ray

We always had at least one pig on the farm and sometimes more. I loved my pigs. They were pretty and intelligent. The one that I think about the most was Snowball who was a 350 pound white Yorkshire pig. Snowball became quite a pet. If you scratched her on her belly, she would first try to help you scratch while standing on three legs like a dog. Then she would give up and roll over to give me complete access to her belly. She would lie there and enjoy the scratching as long as I would give it.

A couple of times a year when Dad noticed that Snowball was ready, we transported her to the neighbor’s farm for a social visit. One summer day, the time came for the appointed social visit to the neighbor’s boar. (Dad used this experience to serve the purpose of the traditional talk out behind the barn.) Dad sought my older brother, Joe, and me and informed us “It’s time to take Snowball to the Howeiller farm. I have a couple of things to do. I have the truck in the pig pen. Go down and load her and I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” We tended to do what Dad said given he was a high school principal and in those days a professional paddler. Joe and I proceeded to the pigpen and sure enough there was the truck in the middle of the pen and a ramp leaning against the fence. We grabbed the ramp, placed it onto the back of the truck, and stepped back to give Snowball some room. Snowball, being the curious animal she was, started up the ramp. Then, she 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 commenced to push that pig into the truck. I meant to say, we attempted to push the pig into the truck. Our approach was doomed to failure. When Snowball felt the pressure on her hindside, she automatically pushed against the pressure and backed up. Since she weighed more than both of us put together, she knocked Joe into a mud puddle on one side of the ramp and left me teetering on the edge of the other one. And if you know anything about pig mud puddles, they’re not the nicest places to be.

About that time, Dad came around the corner of the barn and saw Joe face down in one puddle and me in anticipation of my own puddle plunge. He burst into a fit of laughter the likes of which I had never seen. He doubled over and almost choked. I failed to avoid my own plunge and Joe and I emerged wiping the nasty mud from our faces. In a matter of minutes, when the laughter subsided, Dad looked at us and exclaimed, “Boys I taught you how to load a pig. That’s not the way to do it.” He walked over to the nearby granary, got a little metal cup of shelled corn, made a little Hansel and Gretel trail up the ramp, and threw the rest into the front of the truck’s bed. In three minutes Snowball was loaded and proud to be there. From that point on I remembered, “You can’t push a pig into a truck.”

A leader’s objective 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 his or her role. Others rely on their charisma for employee loyalty and obedience. Fortunately or unfortunately these beliefs often do not play out in real life.

I spend a great deal of time in organizations attempting to help employees choose behaviors that enable the organization to succeed in today’s tough business environment. At times, I am frustrated with the inability of employees to choose to work together for a common goal.

The pig story has for years helped me make a point in my training sessions. I explain that in this one characteristic I am not that different than 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 change will help them personally, they can make objective decisions.

You can’t force people to do anything, however, people tend to choose to do things that they believe will meet their needs. Leaders must tell their followers the whys behind the initiatives they select for the good of the business. Remember, You Can’t Push a Pig into a Truck.

My Comments

I think Glenn hits the nail right on the head with this article. As I stated above, change is fundamentally about somebody choosing to change. If they don’t believe it, something is going to go wrong. That’s why it’s so important that you take the extra time to make sure your team knows what’s going on. Does this mean that you need to spend days explaining everything? Of course not. However, you should make your best effort within reason to make sure that everybody is on the same page.

Author Resource Box

R. Glenn Ray, Ph.D. is the president of RayCom Learning. He has authored or co-authored seven books on leadership and organizational communication. His most recent book is “You Can’t Push a Pig into a Truck: Everyday Leadership Lessons” (2007). Since 1985, Glenn has helped leaders increase employees’ communication accountability. Glenn’s storytelling style helps employees open up, discuss, and improve existing communication structures. He is the vice-president of the National Speakers Association of Ohio, a member of the Storytellers of Central Ohio, and a newspaper columnist since 2000 in “The Marietta Times.” For further information about RayCom Learning, please visit its website at
http://www.raycomlearning.com or contact Glenn at rayray@raycomlearning.com or 1-888-574-5370.

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