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Tuesday, 05 April 2011 12:20 |
Learni ng management lessons from bees
Most people like bees. They have this relaxing, mood-inducing buzz that takes us back to our childhood and those long hot summers. Plus they produce wonderful honey.
Currently they are in trouble. They are getting bad diseases, and at times they all disappear completely, (colony collapse disorder) and no-one knows why. We would be hard pushed to manage without them.
What is more, they provide a fascinating example of how we should run our businesses. They teach us some amazing lessons about leadership, efficiency and growth; about sharing, about thinking about the good of the community rather than of the individual, and of the importance of thinking of the long term future, rather than short term goals.
So while worrying about bees, we should also observe them and this is just what author Michael O’Malley has been doing.
In his book “The Wisdom of Bees”, O’Malley blends practical advice on running a business with interesting facts about how bees live and work which is both insightful and wonderfully calming to read.
Take the Queen Bee. As CEO, and the layer of eggs, she is probably the most important member of the hive, except that she plays no part in even the most change-inducing decisions, such as where the bees are going to forage that day, or if the hive is going to split into two. She does her job (laying eggs at a rate of up to 1,700 a day and leaves other decision to those who have greater knowledge.
Succession plan
Interestingly, bees are always in mind of a succession plan. When the queen is no longer as productive as she should be, the bees start feeding some of the lavae with royal jelly which makes them grow bigger and ultimately become queens. The first one to emerge is almost always the next queen. She then kills off all her still-to-hatch sisters, by stinging them.
Apple doesn’t have a (public) succession plan, which is spooking investors as inspirational CEO Steve Jobs is ill. Some commentators say no-one could do the job. If this was a beehive, that would be curtains for the colony.
Bees never fight amongst themselves, but they will repel those they see as invaders, which makes merging two hives very difficult. In the same way, companies find a merger of two different cultures fraught with difficulties. The author suggests that with bees, it helps to get the two colonies used to each other before the final merger, by placing them close so they can get used to each other’s scent. Then when the final move is made, there is less of a difference between the two.
This is a book full of good management advice, told in a fascinating way. It will also make you very keen to keep bees.
The Wisdom of Bees, by Michael O’Malley is published by Portfolio Penguin, price £9.99. |
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