leadingtoday.org
Leadership Tip of
the Month
February 2006
Copyright 2006 ã weLEAD, Inc.
Consider the Ant…
Over 3000 years ago the author of the ancient
book of Proverbs observed, "Go watch the ants, you lazy person. Watch what
they do and be wise." (Proverbs 6:6 NCV). It seems that researchers at the
University of Bristol, England have been following this sage advice! Recently,
scientists in the south coast of England have been observing the social habits of ants foraging for food
between rocks. What they have discovered can provide some important lessons in
leadership. Here were some of their observations…
In seeking food, ants appeared to have both followers and leaders.
As the follower ants learned a new route by memorizing landmarks, they tapped
the leaders with their antennae encouraging them to proceed to the next step.
The leader ants appeared to actually be teaching the followers how to locate the food and remember its
setting. The leader and follower were running together in tandem and this
action also involved bidirectional feedback between pupil and teacher.
According to Nigel Franks, professor of animal behavior and ecology,
"Within the field of animal behavior, we would say an animal is a teacher
if it modifies behavior in the presence of another, at cost to itself, so
another individual can learn more quickly."
Those researchers who spent countless hours studying the videotape
of these ants believe that Temnothorax
Albipennis may be the very first example of a nonhuman animal exhibiting
teaching behavior. What are some reasons they came to this conclusion? If the
leader ants raced directly to the food on their own, they arrived four times faster than if they had a
follower tagging along with them. Leading and teaching the followers to
memorize landmarks and to communicate by tapping their antennae was a much
slower process. Occasionally some leader ants even grabbed the followers by the
mouth and dragged them to the source
of the food! This example was three times
faster than having a follower tag along. Yet, the leaders appeared willing to
modify the behavior of other ants at the personal cost of slowing down their own efficiency and effectiveness.
Furthermore the ants seemed to use a pedagogical approach to teaching. The lessons they used were highly
interactive and proceeded at a pace determined by the follower's ability to
learn and progress to the next step. If the gap between the leader and follower
was too close, the leader accelerated its pace. If the gap was too long, the
leader slowed down. This observation from the insect world can remind us of
some valuable leadership qualities in the human world.
1. Great leaders are
diligent mentors who are willing to sacrifice their time and talents to teach
others. They are more interested in doing things right than in just
doing things quickly. They view success from a long-term perspective rather
than the short-term.
2. Effective
leadership is the result of constant
communication and interaction. Where there is transparency… there is increased
trust.
3. A caring leader is
one who teaches others at a pace that can be adjusted by the follower's ability
to learn. It is important to be sensitive enough to know when patience is
required to reinforce a lesson, or to know when you can go to the next level.
Nature can teach us a lot about ourselves and the world around us.
The next time you walk by an ant hill, stop for a few minutes and observe their
social behavior. Take some time to consider the ant and the things we can learn
from their example.
For weLEAD, this is Greg
Thomas reminding you that it was Albert Einstein who once said, “Only a
life lived for others is a life worthwhile”.
On
the weLEAD Website you will
find over 70 other free helpful
leadership tips. They are all available in a text version or as an MP3 audio!