Your Choice: Cream or Worms

The Blue Tit, slowly pecking through the foil lid of a doorstep pint of milk - a typical scene from mid-winter when food sources have become scarce. Of course it can be extremely annoying for those of us who still receive the doorstep delivery service. On the other hand it is vital nutrition for this species in their time of need.

What's really fascinating about this behaviour is that the Blue Tit, as a species, has worked out how to remove the foil and breakthrough to the delicious cream below. The Robin, another frequent sight in winter, has not. So what's the explanation - could it be that the Robin just prefers garden worms, or do they just dislike milk?

The answer lies in teamwork and communication. You see, the Robin operates as a 'loner'; it sticks to its territory and can be quite aggressive to other Robins that threaten its turf. The Blue Tit however, tends to operate in pairs (while one is taking the top off the bottle there's usually another not far away!). This tendency towards observing each other, creating new and innovative ways of surviving and then sharing that with others of the same breed is the real reason why Blue Tits get the cream and Robins are stuck with worms.

If you think about your organization you will see both types of behaviour, the Blue Tits who are eager to learn, share and co-create knowledge and insights. And the Robins, carefully guarding what they know, defending their turf. An organisation that enjoys enhanced relationships, networks, cooperative spirit and sharing and creation of knowledge is sometimes described as being rich in 'social capital' and recent research carried out by Cohen and Prusak predicts significant bottom line advantages - cream that matters!

This weeks tip encourages you (and others in your organisation) to think and behave in ways that will guarantee the cream!

1. Make sure your improvement teams summarise their learning in a simple paragraph and send it to 3 other people in your organisation with potentially similar challenges.
2. Find out what improvement or change teams are operating elsewhere and ask for an update on any new insights from one of the team.
3. Form an informal tip sharing session with like-minded people who would like to exchange what has worked and what hasn't in terms of change and improvement.
4. If you don't have any tips of your own why not forward this tip to 2 of your colleagues and suggest they sign up!

Written by Trevor Durnford