I live on the 7th floor and the Coconut tree practically wants to keep jumping into the house. I can literally lean over and “Pluck” a coconut. This is the first time I have seen a coconut tree from this close and at this vantage point. But this is not about coconuts.
Last week as I sat sipping my morning tea and just looking at the tree swaying and noticing the little delicate pale yellow coconut flowers, I noticed a small tiny bird with a long sword-like beak come and suck the nectar out of these flowers. I was amazed at how deft the bird was in the face of all the crazy moving that was happening all around it.
So far it was just a usual sight…
But given the nature of work I do as a Leadership and organizational consultant and designer and the more recent term that is being used pretty much in any leadership talk, the VUCA (Volatile- Uncertain-Complex – Ambiguous) world - my seeing had shifted…
It’s how when you have one question on your mind and things around somehow keep becoming a hint to the answer…The question being “How does one respond effectively to this VUCA world?”
So back to the little bird….
Based on my quick reference check (I also do some bird watching), I figured this a was a species of ‘Humming Bird”.
So here was this hummingbird, small, trying to get the nectar out of an even smaller flower with a very narrow complex opening, on a tree which was constantly swaying.. in an uncertain way and also looking out for the aggressive crows which had built their nest on this same tree.
I couldn’t help but notice the “Similarities “ of the challenge that this little bird was dealing with, with what many leaders and organizations are facing today.
They have to constantly deal with disruptive volatile technological changes, adapt to complex demographic needs, given the instant gratification syndrome, a very narrow “time” window to get the to the clients mind and ‘get the nectar” all this while dealing with the stress of competition that is mushrooming everywhere. - A VUCA world indeed.
I was now suddenly very alert and curious and my interest in how has nature evolved to solve and respond to its own vuca world?. Given that in the evolutionary timeline nature has a proven record of perfecting, in real time, its own response processes and design.
What are some lesson as leaders and organizations can we take from this hummingbird..
One thing as an ardent student of nature I am convinced about is that, nature has the answers..albeit ..sometimes coded. Animals/birds need to be agile to catch prey, escape predators, and outcompete rivals. And so Leadership Agility was certainly one theme to pursue.
The dictionary meaning of Agile is Nimble, Supple, Dexterous, Acrobatic, graceful. Qualities that organization and leaders today certainly look at building, being and demonstrating.
So what does a Hummingbird do to be Agile?
Here are some of my Observations and lessons:
They capitalize on their small size.
To start, let me quickly mention how small these guys can be. They average 8.5 centimeters in length, from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail, although the smallest, the Bee Hummingbird, is just over 5 centimeters long, weighing 2.2 grams.
Lesson 1: Small is good
With the fall of Giants, organizations and leaders alike, one thing proves itself.. that size matters. The days of BIG are gone. Small is in. Large IT organizations report that the challenge they face is not the other large IT companies but the ‘small’ boutique firms that are cropping up everywhere. And with customization, price point and turn around time being critical for clients, These small firms are slowly wriggling their way in to the market.
One of the IT clients I work with say, that their next strategic move is build / incubate “small initiatives” in-house. So that they are able to maneuver quickly and increase turn around time efficiently and be more responsive to their clients. An dhow they can know how " these small firms" think and move.
It flaps it wings..
Hummingbirds can flap their wings as fast as 52 wing beats per second, which enables them to stay in the air flying forward, backwards, sideways, up and down.
Lesson 2 : Master the Art of Hovering
To hover is to stay still in mid air.
What is important here is that while Agile is about movement, It’s not just about moving. Sometimes movement is about staying, (I know it sounds like a Zen koan ), but if you look at the hummingbird, with all the crazy moving around, the bird had to stay still to get what it wanted. And “hovering” is what it did. It has to do a lot of wing flapping just to stay still.
What leaders cannot afford today is to “React” to the stress and volatile situations. Decision making in mid air, literally on the fly needs a certain “Stillness” on the inside. And in order to do that it the lesson is to keeping making small moves repeatedly.
The hummingbird moves it’s wings in a figure of 8 motion. This gives it the nimbleness and agility to move up down back left or right…depending on the changes in its environment.
In my 20 years of experience, I have seen many "elephant" moves .. that One big change that the organization will invest their energy and resource to build, and I have seen the price… One of the biggest price is the sluggish unresponsiveness to the changing times and soon becoming obsolete. There are many examples. Nokia, Life insurance to name a few.
It increases its metabolic rate and slows down.
Hummingbirds have the highest
metabolism of any
homoeothermic animal. To conserve energy when food is scarce, and nightly when not foraging, they go into
torpor, a state similar to
hibernation, slowing metabolic rate to 1/15th of its normal rate.
I had only associated the word metabolism with losing weight, but when I looked up I came across this very interesting definition – Metabolism is the chemical processes that occurs within a living organism in order to maintain life and is synonymous with metamorphosis. Simply put the rate at which the Humming bird generates and uses its energy to maintain and transform itself -is high.
Lesson 3 : Learn, Adapt, and Sustain.
To use the inputs, feedback, self-refection, Insights from people, employees, managers, stakeholders and environment to metamorphose – to create shifts inside in the way you perceive, in the stories that you hold to be true and need to change, in the way you tell the story of the yourself and the current situation and people. And all in all, how do you use all this as a fodder to grow as a person and a leader – quickly while still leading.
I met a leader a couple of months ago in a meeting and in response to a conversation about 360 degree feedback, he said, .."for the last 8 years I have been getting the same feedback". It made me wonder how did he see this? Did he see it as an inability of his peers to observe and give intelligent feedback or was he saying that he hadn’t changed in the last 8 years despite the feedback??
Changing Mindsets and metamorphosis is hard work. Its is all very nice and poetic to give the example of the Caterpillar becoming a butterfly. What we forget or overlook is a crucial step in the process is the “Hibernation” period in the cocoon. Between two states it needs to rest…Slow down.. allow time for the shift to happen. Mediations, Quiet times, mindfulness practices are not just a “soft skill” anymore . They are an imperative. To move from one state to another one needs to slow down and learn to assimilate.
Case in point
At Google - Search Inside Yourself (SIY) , a highly interactive course that blends evidence based mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and neuroscience to awaken the best in people and organizations. SIY has been offered to thousands of Google employees to help take leadership to higher levels of effectiveness, purpose and meaning. It was developed by a Google Engineer, a Zen teacher, a Stanford University Neuroscientist and the author of Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman.
Get the strokes right
It doesn’t just “Flap” is wings fast – there is a unique flight pattern that it has engineered. Hummingbirds engage in impressive wing strokes in which lift is generated in both the upstroke and the down stroke. Most birds can only produce lift in the down stroke using the upstroke merely for recovery. But most birds do not have the same agile wings as a hummingbird. During flapping, 75% of a hummingbird’s weight is supported by the down stroke, while 25% is supported by the upstroke. Most other birds are completely supported by the down stroke.
Lesson 4 : Get the Stroke Strategy right
Often organizations and Leaders , especially after attending a meeting, workshop, or conference will come back and “Implement” the newest insight rapidly. A Lot of frenzy, buzz and action is built around this… Very soon .. it dies down… just as quickly. Unless there is a strategy and muscle for “Sustainability” , the new initiative, like many before, goes to the land of abandoned new initiatives.
The other lesson from this is to see how to generate energy as much on the down stroke as the upstroke, which means when things are not going well how can that be used as a creative opportunity to build capacity.
Case in point:
An Excerpt from HBR Interview titled : “We Had to Own the Mistakes”
Howard Schultz stepped down as chief executive of Starbucks, in 2000, the coffee chain was one of the world’s most recognizable brands—and on a steady trajectory of growth. Eight years later Starbucks was suffering from a rough economy and its own strategic missteps, and Schultz felt compelled to return to the CEO seat. His previous tenure had seen promising growth, but now he faced a challenging mission: to lead a turnaround of the company he had built. Schultz discusses what it’s like to retake the reins in the middle of a crisis.
HBR: We thought we knew the Howard Schultz story. You had a vision, built a successful company, and moved on. But then Starbucks ran into trouble, and two years ago you had to return as CEO. How hard has it been to get things right?
Schultz: The past two years have been transformational for the company and, candidly, for me personally. When I returned, in January 2008, things were actually worse than I’d thought. The decisions we had to make were very difficult, but first there had to be a time when we stood up in front of the entire company as leaders and made almost a confession—that the leadership had failed the 180,000 Starbucks people and their families. And even though I wasn’t the CEO, I had been around as chairman; I should have known more. I am responsible. We had to admit to ourselves and to the people of this company that we owned the mistakes that were made. Once we did, it was a powerful turning point. It’s like when you have a secret and get it out: The burden is off your shoulders.
It stays graceful and elegant throughout
This tiny bird while dong this near impossible tasks, 52 beast per second flying up ,down, front and back..remains graceful and elegant. the whole act is like watching a zen master - a peaceful warrior - a combination of beauty and strength
Lesson 4 : Be elegant.
While doing this crazy balancing acts between Work - Life, Managing expectations of the employees, stakeholders and family, sometimes a certain crudeness creeps in and I have often marvelled at leaders who remain elegant while dealing with all this.
My all time favourite is J.R.D Tata ...
To Summarize:
Lesson 1 : Small is Good
Lesson 2 : Master the Art of Hovering
Lesson 3 : Learn, Adapt and Sustain.
Lesson 4 : Get the Stroke strategy Right
Lesson 5 : Be elegant
Last but not the least..and my favourite... It may be a good idea to hum as we go along amidst all the chaos.
“Love is the Magician that pulls man out of his own hat “ - Ben Hecht
