I just finished a great day of practice with a strong group of people that is getting ever stronger. I started the day by asking them a simple question. Here it is.
I asked them…”WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO TODAY?”
One of the MUSTANGS, Mustang Shelly to be exact, said she wanted to run towards an idea she had about improving the alignment between client sales and the call centers. Other MUSTANGS “anded” the thought. We spent the entire day working this and other related opportunities. We ended the day with more “actionable” ideas than ever before. BTW…are there any ideas that aren’t?
This was not the practice session that I had planned. I had to let go and lose control.
I dropped the reins.
The team ran.
We had fun.
We got better.
Everybody played.
We practiced hard, generated lots of ideas, and laid the foundation for their next practice.
I wrapped up the day with a question to the group. Here’s what I asked them.
“Do you know the difference between foyager bees and army ants?”
They did not know the difference. So I told them.
They seemed to like the story because a lot of them laughed hysterically. They also got the point.
As practice finished one of them came up to me and asked where in the world did I get that story? I could tell from her tone that she was “impressed” that such a strange analogy made so much sense.
I responded that the story came from a book I had read. I read not to get smarter but to get more ideas about how I can get better. I read to improve on the ideas I already own and to discover new ones as well.
What are you reading to get better?
How are you applying what you are learning?
Are you passionately mastering your craft or are you simply on cruise control? Explain.
Are you creating any BUZZZZZZZZZZ?
Are you doing a “waggle dance” that has created lots of followers?
Are you leading the army into the dreaded “death spiral?”
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 
Chet:
There was an interesting article in the last National Geographic about ‘The Intelligence of Swarms.’
It made the point that bees, ants, schooling fish, and flocking birds, for example, collectively accomplish things which require a greater intelligence than the individuals possess. What they found out is that each individual reacts to what it senses from the immediate environment, and from little messages left by others (e.g. the bee waggle or ant scent trails). There is no leader, only followers who take immediate action to stimuli.
I’m not sure how good a model those species are for human organizations, but as always, there are a few things to learn.
One thinks of Collins’ notion of getting the right people on the bus. I think perhaps it suggests that the key role of a leader is communications, and that if the right folks are on the team, they’ll know what to do with it. We’ve both been around leaders who withhold information, and want to manage every detail of every person’s activity. Talk about a recipe for disaster.
We also have to remember that with these swarm species, the individual has no importance whatsoever, and life is very cheap. In the case of the insects, each and every individual will quickly sacrifice its life to fend off an invader. No one runs from the battle — they run towards it.
Makes me think of a nephew I’m very proud of — a US Marine who has already been awarded the Purple Heart during a tour in Iraq, and who is likely to soon return if we don’t end the insanity of it all.
Pablo