Leadershipbydesign
News From LBD
April 2010 Vol 2 Issue 4

Lessons from Geese

    Geese provide a perfect example of teamwork and how it can have a profound and powerful effect on any form of personal or business endeavor. When we use these five principles in our personal and business life, it will help us to foster and encourage a level of passion and energy in ourselves, as well as those who are our friends, associates or team members. It is essential to remember that teamwork happens inside and outside of business life when it is continually nurtured and encouraged.

Lesson 1 - The Importance of Achieving Goals: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a 'V' formation the whole flock adds 71 percent extra to the flying range.
Outcome; When we have a sense of community and focus, we create trust and can help each other to achieve our goals.

Lesson 2 - The Importance of Teamwork: When a goose falls out of formation it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back to take advantage of the lifting power of the birds in front.
Outcome; If we had as much sense as geese we would stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We would accept their help and give our help to others.

Lesson 3 - The Importance of Sharing: When a goose tires of flying up front it drops back into formation and another goose flies to the point position.
Outcome: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks. We should respect and protect each others unique arrangement of skills, capabilities, talents and resources.

Lesson 4 - The Importance of Empathy and Understanding: When a goose gets sick, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to the ground to help and protect it.
Outcome: If we have as much sense as geese we will stand by each other in difficult times, as well as when we are strong.

Lesson 5 - The Importance of Encouragement: Geese flying in formation 'HONK' to encourage those up front to keep up with their speed.
Outcome: We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. In groups and teams where there is encouragement, production is much greater.

"Individual empowerment results from quality honking." 

Author Unknown

 
What Leaders are Reading

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni - Once again using an astutely written fictional tale to unambiguously but painlessly deliver some hard truths about critical business procedures, Patrick Lencioni targets group behavior in the final entry of his trilogy of corporate fables. And like those preceding it, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an entertaining, quick read filled with useful information that will prove easy to digest and implement.

Start with WHY: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action  by Simon Sinek - Sinek identifies a powerful idea he calls The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.
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  Is quality "honking" empowering your teams?
As we learned from the Geese, teamwork is essential to achieving results. Why then do so many teams underachieve? The answer: Team leadership. The team leader is the main link between an organization's goals and the people (team) responsible for making them reality. Good team leaders are the key to the success of any organization. With a role and function of this magnitude, it would seem logical that the process of becoming a team leader would require years of training and skill development. However, almost universally, today's team leaders are men and women who have been placed in these positions because of apparent skills, with little attention to actual or developed skills. Making a good team a high performing team requires constant team leadership development. Dynamic teams are not only possible, but also eminently profitable when organizations invest in team leadership development.

Contact LBD today to learn how team leadership development can maximize your team's performance.

   
John Branstad
John Branstad

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do superior work."

John D Rockefeller

John Branstad
www.leadershipbydesign.org
763-213-5267