The year was 1939 when Ray Bolger first appeared as the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz singing these words:

"And my head I'd be scratchin' While my thoughts were busy hatchin' If I only had a brain."

Then Dorothy responded with her helpful reply,

"With the thoughts youd be thinkin You could be another Lincoln If you only had a brain."

The travelers down the Yellow Brick Road needed everyone on the team to use the best of their talents for the adventure the Tin Man's heart, the Cowardly Lion's nerve, Dorothy's spunk, and yes, the Scarecrow's brain so the whole team could unravel the riddles.

Modern business is like Oz. Too many Scarecrows in your company deny what they already have going for them: the capacity to think beyond boundaries and the inclination to think through any challenge. In other words, they've been unable to engage their best thinking on behalf of the company. But, business requires the greatest effort of all employees. Together their talents can be combined and leveraged to better accomplish your strategic goals.

In interviews over the last 5 years, we've asked more than 3,500 employees from several dozen major companies if they faced a problem they could not solve or a question on the job everyday that they could not answer. 100% have responded, Yes. When given a real-world problem solving challenge; however, only 4% could accurately identify the goal.

Overall, these are bright people. And we've discovered, almost without exception, that they're victims of the Scarecrow Syndrome: when people deny their own abilities to think beyond their limitations, and so fail to use everything within their power to consciously pursue the goals of the organization.

Just-In-Time-Learning

If corporate history shows us anything, it suggests that some of the best people to develop and implement the ideas your company depends on are already on your payroll. They're creative and competent. They are energized but not engaged.

Your company was built on great ideas. You need employees who implement those ideas and continually generate new ones to propel you ahead of the competition. These employees want to take responsibility for their part in your company's future. But you'll never know how valuable they can be until you adopt a two-point plan to help them beat the Scarecrow Syndrome.

FIRST - Engage their minds. To do that, you must accomplish three things:

1. Teach them to think beyond their limitations and to think through their roles in your companys success,
2. Equip them with the specific skills needed to close the Strategy-to-Performance Gap and reach company goals in the workplace, and
3. Connect them to the business and show them why and how they are vitally important in achieving your company's goals.

SECOND - Ignite their learning engines. Give employees the ability to:

• Learn and uncover new issues,
• Unlearn past teachings in an effort to discover new approaches, and
• Relearn so that they can transfer learning to different situations.

Today's organizations need just-in-time learning. When employees learn that they need to consciously work towards the organizational goals to fill problematic gaps at work, and that their daily actions must align with business strategy, a company's capability increases by an average of 75%.

Have you unleashed the creativity and competence in your own staff to help you outperform the competition?

Until you have created this continuous learning loop, your staff is like the Scarecrow, wandering around in The Land of Oz chasing after fairy godmothers and wizards that don't truly exists.

Song lyrics from: (E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, If I Only Had a Brain, The Wizard of Oz, 1939)