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Hi, it's Mike Raven. 
Welcome to episode 3, 17 of lean

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blog audio today, I'm reading a 
post that was published on 

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October, 4th, 2021, titled 
dolphins are also smart enough 

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to game the system to get more. 
So I really enjoyed an article a

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month ago. 
This article when it was sent to

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me, it's from 2003, but it was 
new to me. 

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The headline said, why dolphins 
are deep thinkers Hours. 

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I should have mentioned if you 
want to find a link to the 

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article. 
You can find my original blog 

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post online at lean blog dot 
org, slash audio, 317 wide, 

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ahlfors are deep thinkers the 
sub. 

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Headline says the more we study 
dolphins the brighter, they turn

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out to be So it says in the 
article, all the dolphins at The

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Institute for Marine Mammal 
studies in Mississippi are 

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trained to hold onto any litter 
that falls into their pools 

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until they see a trainer when 
they can trade the litter for 

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fish in this way, the Dolphins 
help to keep their pools clean. 

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Now, if you're familiar with the
concept of gaming, the system 

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you might predict what happens. 
Next, given the reputation that 

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dolphins have for their 
intelligence. 

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I've written about this concept 
Before with posts including the 

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following and you can find links
to all of these again lean blog 

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dot org. 
Slash audio 317 these posts 

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include lessons from the Wells 
Fargo Scandal, mismanagement and

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gaming the numbers. 
The real VA scandal is the long 

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waiting times and bad 
management. 

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Not gaming, by the staff gaming,
the system graduation rates and 

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pneumonia rates. 
Easier to game the numbers, then

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fix the system in education and 
Healthcare. 

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A vivid example of gaming, the 
numbers on the office gaming, 

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the system at Starbucks. 
And then finally, there's one of

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my favorite examples, the police
officer who find themself to 

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meet his ticket writing quota, 
if you can believe it, this 

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happened in Poland some years 
ago and that blog post was 

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titled. 
What would demmings a Polish 

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police officer finds himself to 
meet quota. 

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So there's all kinds of links. 
I mean this is a topic that 

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comes up a lot. 
So is the officer there in 

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Poland like a dolphin? 
I mean, this is a post about 

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dolphins. 
So Kelly, the litter fetching 

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dolphin, for Mississippi. 
According to the guardian Kelly 

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has with the Brits, might call a
scheme. 

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One, a person drops, a litter in
the water too. 

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Kelly could turn in the paper 
for a fish but Kelly tears. 

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The paper into smaller pieces 3 
Kelly. 

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He turns in each smaller piece 
of paper for a fish Kelly. 

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The dolphin has gamed the system
to get more fish. 

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That's amazing as it says, in 
the article, this behavior is 

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interesting because it shows 
that Kelly has a sense of the 

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future and delays gratification 
she has realized that a big 

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piece of paper gets the same 
reward as a small piece and so 

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it delivers only small pieces to
keep the extra food. 

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Coming. 
She has again, the dolphin in 

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effect has trained the humans. 
Well, that's not all, that's not

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the extent of Kelly's. 
Cleverness, When a gall a bird 

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when a golf flies into the 
enclosure, Kelly could turn him.

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The bird to get a fish. 
Here's the scheme. 

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Kelly came up with one capture a
gall to turn it in for a fish. 

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Three take the fish and hide it 
for use the fish as a lure to 

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attract more Gauls, five get 
even more fish. 

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What's even more amazing? 
Is that Kelly the dolphin even 

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taught this gaming Behavior to a
young calf. 

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That's it's mind-boggling. 
There's a lot of interesting 

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details about dolphins in the 
article and again you can find a

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link to it at lean blog dot org,
slash audio 317, the article 

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ends with this, there is still 
much to learn about these 

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flexible problem solvers. 
But from the evidence so far, it

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seems that dolphins. 
Do indeed deserve their 

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reputation for being highly 
intelligent. 

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So to add a few more thoughts, 
you know, in a human workplace, 

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there's a fine line between 
gaming and problem-solving. 

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The article referred to the 
dolphin as a problem solver. 

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Gaming tends to be 
dysfunctional, but it's natural,

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human behavior that results when
you have a combination of 

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targets or quotas combined with 
fear, when it's easier to game 

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the system than it is to 
actually improve the system. 

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People will game the system, 
they're often doing so to get 

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rewards and praise or they're 
doing so to avoid punishment or 

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to save their jobs. 
Now as Leaders, we have to be 

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careful when giving incentives 
that are intended. 

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To get behaviors that we want is
Daniel pink wrote about in his 

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excellent book, drive 
incentives, work, but they have 

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side effects. 
I was able to do a podcast with 

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Dan in my lean blog interviews 
series decade ago. 

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It's from episode 107. 
You can find it at lien blog dot

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org slash 107 and Dan has an 
upcoming book. 

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He's agreed to be a guest on my 
Mistake. 

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So hope you will join us to 
listen to that. 

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If you're not listening to the 
my favorite mistake podcast 

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series, please do so you can 
find it in your podcast app or 

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go to my favorite mistake. 
Podcast.com. 

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So as Leaders as Dan pink and 
dr. 

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Deming and others taught us, we 
have to think about how an 

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incentive scheme might cause 
people to to scheme instead of 

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just pressuring people we have 
to eliminate fear is dr. 

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Deming would have said we have 
to work with. 

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People to help them actually 
improve the systems. 

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They work within there's a great
scene from Ted lasso season one 

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where coach lasso tell Sam Oba 
Sonia to be a goldfish, meaning 

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to have a short memory about a 
mistake or a failure. 

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If we're a management goldfish, 
if you will, who quickly forgets

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the lessons of organizations 
that pressured employees into 

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gaming, the system, we might 
create more dolphins in our 

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Workplaces. 
Don't blame them for gaming. 

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The system. 
You've given them. 

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No choice. 
It's only dolphin, I mean, it's 

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only Human Nature. 
So again you can find this blog 

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post at lean blog dot org, slash
audio 317.