Mar 192 min read

What can we learn from Elephants or Meerkats about Being Team or Family in an Organizational Culture of Belonging?

Joyce Langley, ecological intelligent coach and therapist, Simon Badman, conference speaker, brand and leadership communicator, and I went on a vicarious, online safari by watching two wildlife videos:

The first was about an elephant family, led by a matriarch leading her family to food and water, when they were urgently called to a sad scene by the squeals of an alarmed, distraught elephant calf. A lion pride had killed its mother and it would not leave her dead body. The elephant family waited patiently until the calf had completed his grieving and adjusted to the cycle of life and death in the wilds of Africa. This is what it takes to be family.

The second video was of a meerkat clan, who also faced a predatory foe, a slithering length of deadly cape cobra risen up, and puffed out, to strike at a straying meerkat pup. The meerkats garrisoned to stave off the deadly strike.

All along, we had our revolving, reflection antennae on alert to answer the question:

What does it take to be family or team in an organizational setting of diverse employees?

Some of the Insights Gained:

people like elephants often connect more deeply and meaningfully in diversity
leaders have to set the tone for people to be vulnerable and authentic in the work place
it takes a protective matriarch, a servant leader, to help a team find the right resources to survive and thrive
meerkat mums come alongside their pups / protégés and teach by example
meerkat leaders equipping their pups / protégés do not overwhelm them with tasks too difficult (they bit off the scorpion sting), but they do not do everything for them (they leave the scorpion pincers intact)
it takes a mob of meerkats / employers with diverse skills to approach a predator / the competition with different, novel, problem solving approaches to find solutions and protect their team goals and projects.