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THE GEESE
California anthropologist, Angeles Arrien, draws some very important corporate
and business principles
from the
study of migrating geese. We have all seen them flying in their "V"
formation. What can we learn
about building
team spirit, about facing up, and teaming up from a bunch of
geese?
1. Each bird flaps his wings and creates an uplift for the birds
behind. A bird has 71% more flying range
in a "V" formation than he does by flying alone. The lesson is obvious. When we
share a common
purpose and direction, we can all get there quicker and with much less effort.
2. Whenever a goose gets out of formation, he immediately feels resistance
in trying to go it alone, and
gets back into the formation with the others. Again, the lesson should be pretty
obvious. If we had as
much sense as a goose, we would stay in formation with those who are going the
same way we are.
It's much harder to get the job done when we are always flying alone.
3. When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back into the formation and
another goose flies the point.
The lesson? We all need each other, and everyone should share the harder jobs so
we can all reach
our goal together. Also, the geese in the formation honk from behind to
encourage those in front to
to keep up their speed. If you happen to be fortunate enough to see them flying
over, you will hear
them honking to one another. The lesson is, when we honk at those in the lead,
we should make sure
we are honking words of encouragement and not words of discouragement.
4. When one of the geese is sick or wounded and falls out of
the formation to the ground, two others fall
out and follow the wounded goose, staying with it until it either revives or
dies. What a lesson! If others
could see that we stood together like that, there would be more people on our
team and sharing our vision.