Survival of the Hive
7 Leadership Lessons From a Beehive
by
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Survival of the Hive 7 Leadership Lessons From a Beehive Matthew Harrington Deborah Mackin AuthorHouse™ 1663 Liberty Drive Bloomington, IN 47403 www.authorhouse.com Phone: 1-800-839-8640 © 2013 Deborah Mackin and Matthew Harrington. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author. Published by AuthorHouse 5/14/2013 ISBN: 978-1-4817-4972-5 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-4817-4971-8 (hc) ISBN: 978-1-4817-4970-1 (e) Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908670 All images, concept art, graphics and designs are the property of Deborah Mackin and Matthew Harrington. No part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior permission of the authors. Table of Contents Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv 1. Survival of the Hive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Unity of Purpose: Survival of the Hive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Times of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Survival of the Hive: Reflections for Today’s Leaders . . . . . . . . . 4 Survival of the Hive Mentality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Leadership Readiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. The P-Factors of Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A Complex P-Factor System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Footprint P-Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Building Followership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Resourcing P-Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Alarm P-Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Calming P-Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Retinue or Unity P-Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Following the Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The P-Factor Reflections for Today’s Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Leaving a Footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Securing the Resources Needed to Succeed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Sounding the Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Calming the Fears. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Unity of Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3. The Colony Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Keeping the Beehive Alive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Understanding How We Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Flexing Our Roles to the Need at Hand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Importance of “We”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 A Relationship of Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The Honeycomb Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Colony Culture Reflection for Today’s Leaders . . . . . . . . . . 28 Shared Roles and Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 A Flexible, Dynamic Work System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Providing Resources and Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4. The Front Porch Philosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Give Away Control of the Job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Front Porch Philosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Front Porch + Prompt/ Response/Reward = Accountability. . 38 The CAMP Method of Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Front Porch Philosophy Reflections for Today’s Leaders . . . . 42 The Prompt-Response-Reward Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The CAMP Method of Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Delegating Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Consistency in Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 5. Bee-2-Bee Waggle Dance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Critical News Is Not Bad News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Communicating in Real Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The B-2-B Waggle Dance Reflections for Today’s Leaders. . . . . . 51 The BUZZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 6. The Perfect Product. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 The Perfect Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Perfect Product Honey Stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Internal Customer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 The Rhythm to the Perfect Product Honey Stream. . . . . . . . . . 60 The Perfect Production Honey Stream Reflections for Today’s Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 7. Protect the Hive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Leaving the Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The 4R Approach: Report, Research, Respond, Recover. . . . . . . 69 Protect the Hive Reflections for Today’s Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . 72 Group Discussion Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 8. The Season of a Hive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Introduction When we purchased our first beehive, after carefully placing the queen in the hive, we tipped the box upside down and shook 5,000 bees into the hive. At first the bees were flying everywhere. But within minutes all the bees had settled into the hive and begun their work. During the past three years as beekeepers, it’s been remarkable to open the hive and see the “industry” of honey making evolve through the various seasons of the year. In the spring, the hive has the fewest number of bees, and the scramble is on to build up the bee population and start honey production again. By summertime, the hive is in full production as the bee count dramatically increases and the honey cells are filled and capped. In the fall, the bees should have all the honey they need for the winter—the drones are gone, and the hive is sealed from the cold.
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About the Book
Learn valuable leadership lessons and organizational “survival” tactics through the eyes of one of the world’s most industrious and successful creatures, the honey bee. Survival of the Hive takes the lid off a beehive and provides a fun, relevant and reflective look at the tiny, purposeful inhabitants inside. Through the leadership experiences of Zync, a queen-in-waiting, we are taught seven important leadership lessons by her mentors, Vision, Belief and Strategy including The Front Porch Philosophy of accountability, Bee-2-Bee Waggle Dance of communication, the all-important P-Factors: Footprint, Resourcing, Calming, and Unity, and the Perfect Product Honey System. Deborah Mackin and Matthew Harrington, in a creative yet practical way, use the bee colony and specifically Zync, as an entertaining fable to illustrate leadership in an organized community. Throughout the book, the hive provides a working illustration of cultural complexity, leadership clarity, and the importance of trust as a foundation for excellence. Included at the end of each chapter is Reflections for Today’s Leaders, as well as Group Discussion Questions to help facilitate a “Survival of the Hive” philosophy within your own organization. For more information, free downloads and speaking events visit: www.SurvivalOfTheHive.com
About the Author
Deborah Mackin: Author of three best-selling teaming books, including The Team-Building Tool Kit: Second Edition, Mackin is an international business consultant, leadership coach, and workforce development trainer with over twenty-eight years of experience. Having worked alongside executives, leaders, and managers in some of the world’s most prestigious companies, including Coca-Cola, Alcoa, Delta Faucet, the US Navy, and Sanofi Pasteur, Mackin is a veteran when it comes to what works in the business world today. Matthew Harrington: Son and business partner with Deborah Mackin, Harrington is seen as a subject matter expert on social media, social learning, the Millennial generation, and new forms of leadership within the workplace. Harrington is quickly becoming a leading strategist working with organizations to help usher in a new era of leadership excellence.