Follow me here. Puffins have some fantastic traits in handling relationships; if we applied those to business, our world would be significantly different.
These birds are loyal teammates. First, they mate for life and are independent, but when Puffins come back together, they seek out that one mate. They then feed their partner before enjoying the rewards of the catch themselves.
Team-wise, there are some great leadership thoughts that can be adopted and adapted there. First, let your team have an independent adventure, interactions and journeys. Trust that they will follow through on it if you have taken the time to train, develop and set the correct expectations. And if they don’t, it’s a learning/teaching moment for you both.
And then the feeding of others before you partake part. Please do some deep reflection on this one. This area is the one that can get lost as companies become giant corporations if the leadership doesn’t pay attention to it. Think about those corporate leaders that make sure they get their big annual bonuses each year but pay their front-line teams minimum wage in this economy. Or, on the flip side, those companies we hear about offering profit/stock sharing with their teams. Which company do you think has more loyal, dedicated teams? Taking care of your team first inspires them to take care of the customer first and work as a team toward a common goal.
Are you starting to see things a little differently now? We can learn and apply leadership skills anywhere that can shift our business dramatically. Just look around you.
So, as you can see, Puffins can guide us all to success. Try some of this out, and you may be pleasantly surprised at the results.