Efficient Zookeeping

Mrs giraffe lives in a tall house, not like all the other animals, she is taller than all of them. When she moves, she moves deliberately as though every single step she makes has is being carefully planned in advance. She is designed to move slowly chews brilliantly but looks ridiculous when she runs.

The penguin lives in a house with no heating. He has his own pool and likes being near his friends. He moves extremely quickly underwater but is terribly inefficient on land. Despite his exceptional appetite and slight smell of fish, he is extremely loyal to his girlfriend and wears a very smart and handsome suit at all times.

The lion is cool, and somewhat lazy even though he has enormous energy. He tends not to really apply himself much on a daily basis. One of his best skills is sitting still for hours on end during the day motionless with his eyes closed. As a zoo contributer he is possibly the biggest liability. His food costs a fortune; he does nothing and has to have the largest fence so as not to eat everything.

The giraffe the penguin and the lion are not aware of what they do, nor are they aware of each other very much. Some don’t mind their fence line near to others, and others like to be quiet and peacefully segregated. Understanding individual needs is paramount as a zookeeper.

An efficient zookeeper has learned which animals like which foods, what time they all go to bed and how to manage them when they are a bit grumpy voiceovers. That is what makes all the animals love the zookeeper so much. They sense he understands them.

He has developed this trust through studying the different animals and their personalities but most importantly he remains a neutral party when engaging with them and is genuinely fascinated by what they can teach him. He might notice the lion does even less than he normally does one day, but he won’t chastise, judge or appraise the lion. Equally he won’t expect the penguin to ever learn to chew like the giraffe. He allows the animals to be and they love that.

The success and harmony within his team is largely a result of him completely understanding their needs. In turn these animals will all start to feel more comfortable and in their own way perform better as animals in the zoo.

Should the zookeeper be uptight or disappointed in his demeanour or energy, the animals will immediately notice and react. When this happens, the trust he built yesterday will have to be re earned tomorrow.

Thankfully this rarely happens as efficient zookeepers have learned some clever skills. They never tell the giraffe that he looks stupid when he runs, he only ever tells the giraffe what pretty eyelashes she has. He never tells the penguin that he smelt of fish that day but instead marveled at how the penguin was able to glide through water and he never tells the lion he is lazy but instead focuses on his beautiful coat. The zookeeper becomes a zookeeper when he gets to work and as a result gets the most from the animals.

The reason the zookeeper is able to do this is three fold. Firstly he genuinely loves all the animals, he does not secretly love the penguin more than the lion because he resents how the lion gets to just sit there all day. The animals as a result immediately sense love, feel more comfortable and happy in their surroundings and blissfully go about their animally business perfectly.

Secondly he knows how to allow the animals to work independently toward the same goal. He knows that the goal is to make the animals feel happy and comfortable first and before long they will be able to co exist in perfect harmony. He wouldn’t dream of taking them on a coach to a team building day.

He understands that a lion will always eat the other animals because it is a lion, and a penguin will always waddle. He will never expect the penguin to eat a zebra nor ask the giraffe to live on a block of ice. More importantly he is so at one with himself he allows a lion to be a lion a giraffe to be a giraffe and a penguin to be a penguin. He is happy to be a zookeeper and do what a zookeeper does.

The result of encouraging this natural process is that the animals find natural order among themselves and with him; a team is created that works, using common sense.

An efficient zookeeper understands that all the animals will have off days yet his primary skill is never taking it personally. He allows this off day behavior to only reach his zookeeper uniform and not penetrate inside himself. By taking the animals behavior towards him personally he will start to create a problem, which will get in the way of the love he must show them the following day.

Efficient zookeeping starts firstly with discovering what he genuinely loves about the animals and their individuality. It starts with him understanding that a zookeeper is not in charge of anyone, not above anyone or better than anyone, but just playing a role, just as they are.

When they truly sense this love equality and humility his Zoo becomes a brilliant one that operates as a single and wonderful organism. The zookeeper need not make plans on how to cultivate a better team environment before he has first truly learned to understand himself and how the animals see him.