Bees have two major roles: “in-house” jobs and “foraging” jobs
“In-house” jobs are extensive. They include nursing, tending to the queen bee needs, hive cleaning, bee grooming, undertaker, honeycomb building, and hive maintenance.
In terms of “foraging”, they must collect nectar and pollen, find resinous material for hive glue, collect water, and finally guard the hive.
Each bee in the hive has a role and each role adds value to the collective hive. Depending on the situation or event, a specific role may add more value than another, especially to the hives survival. The hive in this video is strong because every bee understands and executes its role or job. So strong, in fact, that the abundance of honey production attracts robber bees from weaker hives. When this event happens, many of the 30,000+ bees instantly change their job to guard the hive and kill the invaders – on the ground, in the air and in the hive.
As business leaders, we would be wise to take note of how bees work together to thrive collectively in high stress times. Each bee can, and does, play multiple roles, but they are always aligned, and seem to always know what is most important. They prioritize the most important task incredibly well at any given time.
Do you know what the most valuable roles are in your business, today and in the future? Do you have a clear plan to ensure your best people are in the most important roles in order to persevere through the ongoing COVID-19 situation, let alone another event? This will take Leading With Grace, tight alignment with your board, peers and directs, and laser focus on the company’s priorities and risks.
Businesses are rapidly adjusting to the changing needs of their employees, customers and suppliers, all while navigating financial and operational challenges. With every company, function, and geography affected, the amount of change to manage can be daunting.
Leaders are swiftly turning their attention to a period of unpredictable economic recovery, which may raise new competitive threats and opportunities at high degree of acceleration. A new era is being defined by quick shifts in cultural norms and societal behaviors, such as increased demand for work-from-home business practices.
Within this turbulent current, leaders are facing the urgency and complexity of reopening their offices. This presents an opportunity and a need for many companies to build the competences they wish they had invested in sooner – increased digital, data-driven, and cloud-based SaaS solutions – to support a high degree variable cost structure, agility and process automation. This transformation will be core to the long-term capabilities that are required to navigate the turbulence.
Exactus Advisors is working with businesses to help them mobilize, return-to-work and focus on the future. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, it is time to shift focus to future planning, while addressing today’s changes in the months ahead to return-to-work. Let Exactus Advisors assist you in the shift to the new environment and plan for what’s next.
-Tom Lebamoff