Great teams fly in formation

Not something that keeps you awake a night I’m sure, but have you ever wondered why geese fly in a ‘V’ formation? Well as each bird flaps its wings it creates uplift for the bird immediately following and the net result is a 70%+ increase in flying range. Wow!

In business teams that share a common direction and sense of belonging can also get where they want to go more quickly when they’re traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of the formation it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into line to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

Is it important that we stay in formation with those people who are heading in the same direction we are?

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. Naturally it makes sense to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people….or with geese flying south.

And when a goose gets sick, is wounded or simply unable to keep going and hence falls out of formation, two other geese also fall out and follow it down to help and offer protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group.

Do you and your team offer similar levels of support to each other?

Finally, Geese also honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

How are you honking to your team? peterborough business advisor