Should we all just be a bit more chicken?

So, I keep chickens. Here they are – Princess Leia, Lavender, and Rasputin (don’t ask!).

Now, if you have been on a zoom call or virtual workshop with me you might have heard them clucking away in the background. My office is in the garden and at certain times of the day they can get very excited and make a great deal of noise. I only found out recently, from a man in a pub (where much wisdom can be found), why that might be.

Here’s what he told me…

The thing about chickens is that they stick together. They are close. They operate as a team. They continually communicate. They have each other’s backs and look out for each other, warning each other when there is danger and letting each other know when there is food about and when there is something interesting to explore.

They are also great cheerleaders for each other and when one of them lays an egg and announces it to the world, via excitable clucking, the others join in, creating a chorus of excitable clucking – this is known as the ‘egg song’ (not yet available on Spotify unfortunately). The chickens celebrate the success of their team-mate laying an egg. They acknowledge the achievement – it’s a big deal. Well, it is, isn’t it.

So, there is much we can learn from ‘team chicken’ about the characteristics of high performing teams and in particular about the need to be great cheerleaders, to have each other’s backs and to acknowledge and celebrate each other’s successes.

So, let’s make some noise when others do well. Let them know that we care about their achievements.

Let’s sing out the egg song.

Let’s all be a bit more chicken.

Steven Hargreaves, is the award winning Founder and Managing Director of The Compassionate Leadership Company