How are your teams and communities doing at the moment? In the last few weeks, I’ve heard multiple experiences of painful fractures within groups who have historically been supportive and unified. If this is true for you, take heart that you’re not alone – if it’s helpful to consider it within the larger cultural context of distrust in leadership, great, but there’s also a wider historical context for fractures within groups who share common ground during times of radical political overhaul (illustrated so effectively in the Star Wars world in the show Andor). That might not make it any easier, but it might be helpful to remember that it’s not you.
In the midst of all this, a program I facilitated this week reverted to some classic team building activities that have been around since at least the 1980s. The program started early, and we were using a large soccer field next to a large pond as our base. As we set up, a few dozen geese landed close by, then a few dozen more, then more – eventually we had somewhere in the region of 100-150 geese on the field with us. Even so, the group was focuse on “The Maze.” The Maze is an activity I have led hundreds of times over the last 28 years, in countless different forms, but the general idea is always the same: the group works together without speaking to find the one correct path through a grid of squares on the ground, learning about communication and how they work together as they do so. The discussion afterwards focused on leadership styles – how different people displayed leadership at different points in the activity, whether they were on the maze or on the outside. Some showed direct leadership in finding the path, others in keeping track of the group’s work to date, others by rallying and making sure everyone was taking their turn. We also talked about how leadership showed up differently over the course of the activity.
And then, suddenly, the group’s attention turned to the other side of the field: the 100+ geese were honking, taking off, and organizing themselves into their V formation. Perfectly timed for a conversation about leadership. In case you’re not familiar with why, take a look at this poem by Baltimore Public Schools science teacher and associate superintendent Dr. Robert McNeish, used in countless leadership programs since he wrote it in 1972:
When you see geese flying along in V formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way.
As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an “uplift” for the bird following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the “lifting power” of the bird immediately in front.
When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.
The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow their fellow member down to help provide protection. They stay with this member of the flock until he or she is either able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch up with their own flock.
(Note: Each paragraph is often followed by a “lesson” about teamwork – I have not been able to determine that these were in the original poem, and have presented the poem here without. You can draw your own parallels to teams, but if you’d prefer, you can read the poem with the lessons included here.)
Cheesy? Perhaps. Oversimplified? Of course. Dated? Maybe – although it’s worth saying that science backs up everything McNeish wrote more than 50 years ago, and in fact has suggested other reasons the V formation works well for groups also. But how could this poem – and the idea of flying in a V formation – be helpful to you during these times?
This Week’s Tip:
Read through the “Lessons from the Geese” poem above (or the version with the “lessons” added), and ask what you might take from it. Rather than offering direct tips, I’ll leave you with some questions to consider: How could you create uplift for those on your team to give them more flying range? Where could you operate with fixed-term rotating leadership shared among each member of the group? How could you encourage honking to encourage those in front (different from honking as criticism)? How can your team support someone who needs to step away (for sickness, bereavement, parental leave or any other reason)? What else are you taking away from the V formation geese use?
Let us know what you’re taking away from this. We’d love to hear from you.
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