WHAT’S THE BUZZZZ IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?

Recently I had the opportunity to lunch and celebrate the New Year with a former professor of mine, Marilyn Hamilton, whom I met while doing my graduate work. I have  enormous respect for Marilyn and realized I was absolutely pumped following our lunch together. She has become a very special person in my life and a valued ‘advisor’.

Following two years of hard work Marilyn recently completed and published an intriguing book! She enthusiastically shared her exciting research encompassing a ‘whole system view’ of creating productive cities that had enormous potential for addressing the diverse needs of the today’s diverse populations. The result was publication of an exceptionally worthy and forward thinking book entitled ‘Integral Cities, Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive’ . Powerfully aligned with the field of urban studies, Marilyn mentioned, “It’s been extremely interesting to hear the many unsolicited and exciting responses to my book and how its application and meaning have actually extended far beyond what my intent had initially been” (listen Marilyn.)

I’ve read with delight an interview that Marilyn had engaged in while promoting her book. It was obvious from the content of the interview that the application of her model was totally applicable to a diversity of today’s public and private sector organizations. Using two of her favorite expressions, Marilyn and I engaged in our rich conversation around conformity enforcers and diversity generators. What great terms! She had been able to capture the blinding glimpse of the obvious around how readily the bee community and their various roles truly show up in all organizations.

Marilyn made note of the fact that the energy of conformity enforcers, that she claims make up 90 % of a hive community, quickly diminishes over the course of each season as the bees gather resources from the same flower patch. She explained that the inner judges of a hive, measure the return and withhold and/or reallocate limited and precious fuel as pollen amounts decrease. Adjusting the budget mid-stream so to speak? She went on to explain that as the conformity enforcers eventually accept the need to change, they make the necessary shift to new resources and adjust to the new findings of the diversity generators….a new flower patch. The outcome for the hive……. new found energy!  The roles of both the conformity enforcers and diversity generators are vital to the survival of the hive….and to any business community for that matter!  Presto, explaining the behavior of many an organization in today’s world of white water change and transition.

I’ve found the ‘hive’ metaphor an exciting prism to view organizational leadership from with huge possibilities for further exploration and study. Clearly, bees must be doing something right to coexist in a container the size of my shoulder bag and yet readily adapt to change!

How readily do the conformity enforcers in your organization embrace the work of your diversity generators? How critical in today’s world is the role of diversity generators who hold enormous potential for revitalizing the energy of others in each and every organization trying to survive and prosper? I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings. Go for it!