I Never Thought I’d Become a Zookeeper

A few weeks ago, I had a kick-off coaching session with Adrian who had been referred to me by a CEO I have been working with for many years.

Adrian is a relatively new member of an executive leadership team. He’s based in Philadelphia and his colleagues (and team members) are scattered right across the USA, UK, and Europe. The company has no official HQ (they’re a truly distributed organisation), and since he joined the ELT, Adrian has only had a chance to meet up with two of his peers in real life and that was only because they happened to be in Philly for a baseball game!

Whenever I meet with a leader for the first time, I always ask them what experience they have had with coaching, or what focus they may have placed on professional development in the past.

Adrian looked straight at the camera and said, “I’ve been trained by the CIA”.

That’s something I can honestly say I’d never heard before. And to be honest I wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

He must have seen my reaction, and after letting my surprise linger for a few more seconds he said, “I’m kidding” before explaining that from a leadership ‘coaching’ perspective he’s a big believer in the CIA’s ‘lion, bear, cheetah, and fox framework’ (also something I can honestly say I hadn’t heard of before).

One of the many things I love about what I do is the fact that at the end of some coaching sessions, I have as much gratitude for what I learned during the hour as the leader across from me has for what I was able to impart to them. This was definitely one of those sessions.

As I learned from Adrian, the CIA apparently refers to ‘the animal kingdom of the workplace’ and highlights the importance of identifying four different personality archetypes.

The CIA’s analogy is a powerful tool for understanding the diverse personalities within a team. By likening team members to animals (lion, bear, cheetah, and fox), we can better appreciate their inherent characteristics and temperaments, and how they contribute to the team’s overall success.

“When I first stepped into a leadership role, the last thing I expected was to find myself akin to a zookeeper, managing a diverse array of personalities, each with their own unique traits and strengths.”

Yet as Adrian delved deeper into team dynamics (something I also do regularly when working with teams and ‘the power of the collective’), he realised the importance of understanding these different archetypes to foster a harmonious and productive work environment.

I was intrigued, and keen to get Adrian’s take on the lion, bear, cheetah, and fox analogy.

The Lion:

The lion is the natural leader - decisive, confident, and charismatic. They naturally take charge and inspire others with their vision and determination. However, their dominance can sometimes overshadow quieter team members, and their confidence can border on stubbornness. Leveraging the lion’s strengths can drive a team towards ambitious goals. Having said that, it’s essential to balance their dominance with the input of others to avoid creating a one-dimensional leadership style.

The Bear:

The bear is the steadfast supporter. Adrian shared that this is, in fact, his archetype. Bears are reliable, patient, and nurturing. They provide stability and are often the emotional backbone of the team, offering support and fostering a sense of community.

As he explained the bear’s traits, I also felt that this was probably the best way I would have described myself not just as a team member, but also as a leader back in my day. Their cautious nature can sometimes be said to slow down progress, and their nurturing approach may be misinterpreted as a lack of assertiveness. Bears excel in roles requiring perseverance and empathy. Leaders should recognise their contributions and ensure they feel valued, as their support is critical during challenging times.

The Cheetah:

The cheetah is the agile innovator - quick and adaptable. They thrive in fast-paced environments and are often the first to spot new opportunities or potential issues. Their rapid pace can sometimes lead to oversight of details, and their need for speed may create tension with more methodical team members. Encouraging the cheetah’s creativity can drive innovation and keep the team agile. However, leaders should help them focus their energy to avoid burnout and ensure their ideas are implemented effectively.

The Fox:

The fox is the strategic thinker - cunning, strategic, and resourceful. They excel at problem solving and navigating complex situations. Their strategic nature can sometimes be perceived as overly cautious or manipulative, and their preference for planning might slow down immediate action. Utilising the fox’s analytical skills can enhance the team’s strategic planning. Leaders should involve foxes in decision-making processes and leverage their insights to foresee potential challenges and opportunities.

As you read these archetypes, which animal best describes you in the CIA’s animal kingdom framework?

Creating a harmonious ecosystem within a team starts with understanding, valuing, and celebrating the unique strengths of each personality type.

This fosters respect and inclusion, boosting morale and encouraging team members to leverage their strengths. It’s important to customise communication and motivation strategies to fit different personality types. For example, lions may thrive on challenges, while bears might prefer steady encouragement.

As a leader, you might want to focus on balancing team roles and distributing responsibilities to play to each team member’s strengths. Think about assigning strategic planning to a fox, rapid execution to a cheetah, team morale to a bear, and overall direction to a lion.

Promoting collaboration between different archetypes for innovative solutions is also something you might want to consider. For example, pairing a strategic fox with an innovative cheetah can yield creative strategies.

As Adrian and I discussed, it’s just as critical for a leader to be aware of their own animal archetype as it is to understand their team’s. This self-awareness enables a leader to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses and how they fit into the broader leadership team.

As a leader, reflect on your own behavioural patterns to determine your archetype.

Are you a decisive lion? A supportive bear? An innovative cheetah? Or a strategic fox?

Gathering feedback from colleagues and team members can provide valuable insights into how others perceive your leadership style. This type of feedback can help validate your own self-assessment while also helping you identify areas for improvement, such as a fox refining their strategic approach or a cheetah learning to pace themselves. If you’re a lion, you might find yourself wanting to focus on your listening skills, while if you’re a bear, you might want to try to be more assertive when needed.

Internally, you might want to set up relationships with mentors who have complementary archetypes and who might be able to provide diverse perspectives to accelerate the growth of your own team members or indeed for yourself. For instance, a lion might benefit from a bear’s stability, while a fox could learn to be more decisive from a cheetah.

Understanding and managing diverse personality types within a team is essential for effective leadership.

By embracing Adrian’s (and the CIA’s!) lion, bear, cheetah, and fox analogy, leaders can gain profound insights into their own team’s complex dynamics. Recognising and valuing these diverse personality types not only enhances individual performance but also drives collective success.

Whilst Adrian may never have thought his role as a leader would also be one of a zookeeper, I’m now going to start incorporating this zookeeper philosophy more into my own coaching practice, too, as I discover all the animals on my own curated safari so that together we can achieve remarkable outcomes and navigate the challenges of different workplaces with agility and resilience.