Hi, I’m Auburn!
I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Collective Results.
When I’m not working, you’d most likely find me in a canoe, on a mountain, or in my woodworking shop. Lately, you’d find me in my apiary. I’m a beekeeper, and while that’s not my “real job”, it is a hobby that is constantly providing me with insights into my work life.
I started beekeeping during the summer of 2020. The pandemic left me and my wife with more time on our hands to look into new ways to enjoy our property. Our property is home to a flower farm, so bees seemed like a natural addition.
Bees are fascinating. They form intricate communities within their hives, each bee taking on different roles. There are foraging bees, nurse bees, bees that serve as undertakers, and bees performing other duties around the hive such as building honeycomb, cleaning, and hive maintenance. Each bee takes on different roles depending on what the hive needs. Each bee adds value to the collective hive – some might say they enhance their collective results.
So, what can we learn from bees?
1. Through clear and effective communication, the group will thrive.
Bees have developed complex ways of communicating with each other. When one foraging bee discovers flowering plants full of nectar or pollen, they come back to the hive and perform a “waggle dance” to communicate precise directions to other foraging bees. This ensures that other foragers can work effectively and bring in important resources for the hive. In our working life, by sharing important resources and information with colleagues, it improves efficiency, builds trust, and creates a sense of community among colleagues. This is so important in the creation of happy and healthy work environments.
2. It’s important to pivot when the team needs you.
Have you ever been in the middle of one project when you receive an urgent message from a client or colleague asking for help? Bees experience this all the time and they are so good at switching tasks to help each other. If a job within the hive needs to be done, any bee will contribute. Somehow bees are always so aligned and always seem to know what to prioritize for the good of the hive. As humans, it can sometimes be challenging to adapt, but with practice we can become effective at this. The more adaptable an individual or a business, the more successful it can be.
3. Collaboration is key.
Hives are divided into three distinct groups of bees: the queen, the worker bees, and the drones. However, no single group is ever more important than the other. They need each other to survive. A queen, without her worker bees, could not live and the eggs she lays would not develop into bees. Bees understand the importance of each of their hive members. This is such an important lesson for our working lives. Each team member contributes something unique to the organization and each person has an important role to play. We can lean on the strengths of our team members and share our strengths with others.
I’m so excited to be joining the hive at Collective Results and will continue to look for new insights from my bees. What else can we learn?