You’ve heard the saying “families that play together, stay together”, right? Well, what if I said “companies that learn together, perform together”. While it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, the latter sentence is no less true.

We are more willing to learn at work when we feel emotionally supported AND when we learn as a group. Watching other people learn the same skill or behavior that we are attempting to learn is a powerful motivator for success. It creates a pack mentality for learning and sends performance indicators through the roof. The companies that are the best at learning tend to be the best in the marketplace; and that is not a coincidence.

I recently came across my first grade school photo, in which I was wearing my absolute favorite sweatshirt – The Masters of the Universe. I loved that sweatshirt! For those of you who didn’t grow up in the 80s, the Masters of the Universe were a collection of cartoon characters led by the heroic He-man as they did battle with the evil forces of Skeletor. It is an absolute classic.

Learning can be really hard to do. There are countless factors – things like time, competing priorities, relevance, and logistics that can get in the way of our ability and our desire to learn.

I have been talking recently about “lemmings in suits”, an expression that describes people caught up in the trends of the modern business world. Busyness is one of those trends that sweep people into unproductive behavior. It also robs you of your time to observe, think, discuss and create unique solutions to problems. As a leader, you need to find your oasis, or your place where you can get away from the bombardment to your senses.

In case you are not convinced from my previous two blogs, that being busy is not productive; let me tell you about a very busy little creature, the processional caterpillar.

Imagine a tall, rugged mountain. So large in fact that it could be sectioned into four horizontal segments of equal width, as follows:

In my last blog, I railed about “Lemmings in Suits-Why you Should Become Un-Busy”, and our obsession with being “busy”. The result is that we limit our ability as leaders to build relationships, coach others, and plan for the future. We also neglect to do what Stephen Covey calls “sharpen the saw”.

And…is it Really That Important?

Lemmings are a misunderstood animal.  As a small member of the rodent family, they migrate in large groups. Sometimes they choose to swim across a large body of water in search of a new place to live. If they did not plan well, many may drown on their journey. This odd behavior has become known as lemming "suicide", and it is a frequently used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion. Poor little guys. What an unfair way to be so widely known.