I share a wonderful passion with my children. We love to be involved with and watch programs about nature. You can learn a lot about teamwork from studying nature. Recently I discovered some fascinating facts about Honey Bees.
On a warm day about half the bees in a hive stay inside beating their wings while the other half go out to gather pollen and nectar. Because of the beating wings, the temperature inside the hive is about 10 degrees cooler than outside. The bees rotate duties and the bees that cool the hive one day are honey gatherers the next.
Isn’t it interesting to see the POSITIVE EFFECTS of Teamwork in Nature!? There are so many examples for us to learn from. I believe our Creator sends us constant reminders through nature. There are three I am reminded of for effective teamwork:
1) The team members must care for one another
Without Sacrifice there can be no Success! Sometimes we are called to sacrifice: time, effort, comfort, or our own desires for the sake of the team. Uncaring people on a team remind me of two guys in a sinking boat, sitting together at one end doing nothing. As the people at the other end are bailing furiously, one says, ’Thank God that hole isn’t in our end of the boat.’
2) The team members must communicate
In Hurricane Katrina, hundreds died while those who could have rescued them stood by. Why? Communication broke down. We might not die, but poor communication sure cripples a team.
3) ’Your rights’ must take second place
The old ’I’ll do it myself, so it’ll get done right’ attitude, robs others of the opportunity to participate, learn and grow, and leaves the job undone or poorly done. The team’s success must be of greater value than your own interests.
A widely shared quote from one of my favorite leadership gurus, Stephen Covey certainly describes the success of people working interdependently on a team as well as our friends in the air conditioned beehives.
“Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own efforts. Interdependent people COMBINE their OWN efforts with the efforts of OTHERS to ACHIEVE their Greatest SUCCESS.” -Stephen Covey
Written by Jim Shearer for Leading Hearts: the Spirit Ranch Blog; http://spiritranch.us/airconditionedbeehive
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