Team Building Lessons From Geese? Business And People Management.

One of my corporate clients was recently looking for some teambuilding material and asked if I had “The Geese Lessons” (he’d seen a training film years ago that drew corporate lessons from the instinctive behaviour of geese).

After I had dug the material out of my archives and sent it to him, I thought you might enjoy puzzling out a few relevant lessons for yourself, so I have reproduced here the “geese behavioural facts” to get you going.

Try reading each then asking yourself what lessons it might hold for you and your team (see below for some help):

Fact 1: 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% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Fact 2: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

Fact 3: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

Fact 4: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Fact 5: When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.

Example: Team Lesson 1: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

I have developed a Template for my coaching Clients to use when they and their teams discuss and reflect on their own group behaviours. They find it prompts realisations about what works and what does not work for all of them, in terms of achieving their joint goals.

If you’d like a free copy of my “Lessons From Geese Template”, I’m happy to share, check out our other free resources while you’re there.