Goose Freedom
Michael Stokes
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
Michael Stokes
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
1. Sharing a common goal: As each goose flaps its wings it creates “uplift”, an aerodynamics orientation that reduces air friction, for the birds that follow. By flying in a V-formation, the whole flock achieves a 70% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. The lesson we can learn here is that people who share a common direction and goal can get where they are going quicker and with less effort because they benefit from the momentum of the group moving around them. Make sure your team and company is aligned towards a common goal.
2. Increasing visibility: Flying in a V-formation increases the visibility as every goose can see what’s happening in front of them.
The lesson here is to make our organizations visible in both org-chart directions. Having top-down visibility enables leaders to stay connected with the edges of the organization to make better informed decisions. Bottom-up visibility enables employees to see the bigger picture, engages them, and empowers them to better align themselves with the organizational objectives.
3. Having humility to seek help: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the friction of flying alone. It then quickly adjusts its mistake and moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
The lesson we can learn here is to be humble to admit the challenges we face and to seek help as soon as we get stuck. This humility will enable you, your team, and your company to move faster and achieve more.
4. Empowering others to lead: When the lead goose in the front gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and allows another goose to take the leadership position. The lesson here is to empower others to also lead. Micro-managing and keeping tight control will burn you out. It will also disengage and demotivate others around you. People have unique skills, capabilities, and gifts to offer. Give them autonomy, trust and a chance to shine, and you will be surprised with the outcomes.
5. Always recognizing great work: The geese honk to recognize each other and encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
The lesson here to make sure we praise people and give them the recognition they deserve. Lack of recognition is one of the main reasons employees are unsatisfied at work and quit. It’s very common for people’s efforts to go unnoticed by their peers in a busy and fast-moving work environment. However, remembering to constantly provide recognition and encouragement is vital and keeps teams motivated to achieve their goals.
6. Offering support in challenging times: When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock. The lesson here is to stand by each other in difficult times. It’s easy to always be part of winning teams, but when things get difficult and people are facing challenges, that’s when your teammates need you the most.
7. Staying committed to core values and purpose: The geese migration routes never vary. They use the same route year after year. Even when the flock members change, the young learn the route from their parents. In the spring they will go back to the spot where they were born. The lesson to learn here is to stay true to our core values and purpose. Strategies, tactics, and products may change in order for an organization to remain agile, but great companies always stick to their core purpose and values, and preserve them with vigour.
2. Increasing visibility: Flying in a V-formation increases the visibility as every goose can see what’s happening in front of them.
The lesson here is to make our organizations visible in both org-chart directions. Having top-down visibility enables leaders to stay connected with the edges of the organization to make better informed decisions. Bottom-up visibility enables employees to see the bigger picture, engages them, and empowers them to better align themselves with the organizational objectives.
3. Having humility to seek help: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the friction of flying alone. It then quickly adjusts its mistake and moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
The lesson we can learn here is to be humble to admit the challenges we face and to seek help as soon as we get stuck. This humility will enable you, your team, and your company to move faster and achieve more.
4. Empowering others to lead: When the lead goose in the front gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and allows another goose to take the leadership position. The lesson here is to empower others to also lead. Micro-managing and keeping tight control will burn you out. It will also disengage and demotivate others around you. People have unique skills, capabilities, and gifts to offer. Give them autonomy, trust and a chance to shine, and you will be surprised with the outcomes.
5. Always recognizing great work: The geese honk to recognize each other and encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
The lesson here to make sure we praise people and give them the recognition they deserve. Lack of recognition is one of the main reasons employees are unsatisfied at work and quit. It’s very common for people’s efforts to go unnoticed by their peers in a busy and fast-moving work environment. However, remembering to constantly provide recognition and encouragement is vital and keeps teams motivated to achieve their goals.
6. Offering support in challenging times: When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock. The lesson here is to stand by each other in difficult times. It’s easy to always be part of winning teams, but when things get difficult and people are facing challenges, that’s when your teammates need you the most.
7. Staying committed to core values and purpose: The geese migration routes never vary. They use the same route year after year. Even when the flock members change, the young learn the route from their parents. In the spring they will go back to the spot where they were born. The lesson to learn here is to stay true to our core values and purpose. Strategies, tactics, and products may change in order for an organization to remain agile, but great companies always stick to their core purpose and values, and preserve them with vigour.
little known information and facts about geese a.k.a *idioms
- Goose, foot and tooth are the only common English words in which “oo” changes to “ee” for their plurals.
- The only Oscar-winning film with “goose” or “geese” in its title is the 1964 comedy Father Goose which starred Cary Grant and Leslie Caron.\
- Before turkeys became widespread in Britain in the late 19th century, geese were the traditional Christmas fare, especially among the poor.
- In the middle ages, churches offered geese to parishioners at a fixed price of sixpence uncooked or seven pence cooked.
- Flying in a V-formation has been shown to increase the range of geese by over 70 per cent.
- Harassing geese is of limited effect. They are apparently very smart, and quickly catch on to the fact that fake owls, loud noises and visual scare tactics pose no actual threat.
- Scientists say that the birds communicate with one another by using more than 13 distinct calls depending on the situation confronting them.
- Geese hiss as a warning to stay away. It is mostly the males that will hiss.
- Take a gander - This slangy idiom, dating from the early 1900s, presumably came from the verb gander, meaning “stretch one's neck to see,” possibly alluding to the long neck of the male goose.
- "Your goose is cooked" came from the death of Jan Hus, a Czech priest in the early 14th century. His name resembled the Czech word husa (goose) and he was burnt for some religious reason, therefore his goose was cooked, so to speak. Saying that someone's "goose is cooked" means that they have suffered, or are about to suffer, a terrible setback or misfortune."
- Goose Egg normally refers to a bump on the head for people. I walked into a door and got a big goose egg on my forehead.
- Goose Bumps - Goosebumps on people occur on their skin in a reaction to cold, fear, shock and sometime due to sense of nostalgia or something awe-inspiring. The bumps are created when muscles at the base of the hair contract and cause the hair to stand straight up.
- "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" means what's appropriate treatment for one person is equally appropriate for someone else.
- "Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs," derived from an old fable, is a saying referring to any greed-motivated, unprofitable action that destroys or otherwise renders a favorable situation useless.
- "A wild goose chase" that one goes on or sends someone else on is a useless, futile waste of time and effort.
- Geese are one of the few birds in which the family does not break up at the end of the breeding season.
- Geese are excellent weeders or weed eaters. Some years ago commercial agriculture goose farmers would supplement their income by renting flocks of geese out to cotton farmers for a chemical-free weeding solution.
*idioms are expressions whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings
- Goose, foot and tooth are the only common English words in which “oo” changes to “ee” for their plurals.
- The only Oscar-winning film with “goose” or “geese” in its title is the 1964 comedy Father Goose which starred Cary Grant and Leslie Caron.\
- Before turkeys became widespread in Britain in the late 19th century, geese were the traditional Christmas fare, especially among the poor.
- In the middle ages, churches offered geese to parishioners at a fixed price of sixpence uncooked or seven pence cooked.
- Flying in a V-formation has been shown to increase the range of geese by over 70 per cent.
- Harassing geese is of limited effect. They are apparently very smart, and quickly catch on to the fact that fake owls, loud noises and visual scare tactics pose no actual threat.
- Scientists say that the birds communicate with one another by using more than 13 distinct calls depending on the situation confronting them.
- Geese hiss as a warning to stay away. It is mostly the males that will hiss.
- Take a gander - This slangy idiom, dating from the early 1900s, presumably came from the verb gander, meaning “stretch one's neck to see,” possibly alluding to the long neck of the male goose.
- "Your goose is cooked" came from the death of Jan Hus, a Czech priest in the early 14th century. His name resembled the Czech word husa (goose) and he was burnt for some religious reason, therefore his goose was cooked, so to speak. Saying that someone's "goose is cooked" means that they have suffered, or are about to suffer, a terrible setback or misfortune."
- Goose Egg normally refers to a bump on the head for people. I walked into a door and got a big goose egg on my forehead.
- Goose Bumps - Goosebumps on people occur on their skin in a reaction to cold, fear, shock and sometime due to sense of nostalgia or something awe-inspiring. The bumps are created when muscles at the base of the hair contract and cause the hair to stand straight up.
- "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" means what's appropriate treatment for one person is equally appropriate for someone else.
- "Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs," derived from an old fable, is a saying referring to any greed-motivated, unprofitable action that destroys or otherwise renders a favorable situation useless.
- "A wild goose chase" that one goes on or sends someone else on is a useless, futile waste of time and effort.
- Geese are one of the few birds in which the family does not break up at the end of the breeding season.
- Geese are excellent weeders or weed eaters. Some years ago commercial agriculture goose farmers would supplement their income by renting flocks of geese out to cotton farmers for a chemical-free weeding solution.
*idioms are expressions whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings