Biological teams live
Stumble It!Much of the foundation of bioteaming is based on the organisation, communications and behavior of social insect societies. The BBC has a wonderful series Life in the Undergrowth narrated by David Attenborough with a whole programme dedicated to Supersocieties and Super-organisms.
You can see short video clips of all the best bits including Giant Asiatic honeybees and Mangrove ants.
The Programme Trailer says
It's easy to be dismissive of invertebrates because, being so small, they often pass us by unnoticed.
But some invertebrates have overcome the limitation of their small size by banding together in huge numbers.
Many of these societies are so fine-tuned in the way they operate it's as if they were a single being or, in the words of David Attenborough, a "super-organism".
And by working together they can achieve great things.
Take, for instance, African termite mounds that act as huge ventilation systems and are so sophisticated in their structure that we humans are only just unravelling how they work.
But insect societies aren't all shining examples of co-operative Utopias.
As a bumblebee colony reaches its maximum size towards the end of summer, conflict spreads among the female workers; eventually they turn on their mother - the queen - and sting her to death.
The programme ends with two insect societies meeting head on as Matabele ants raid a nearby termite mound.
The ensuing battle lasts just 15 minutes and ends with a most horrific scene of carnage
Digg | 
del.icio.us | 
Reddit | 
Yahoo! | 
Add to my favourites
Bioteams Books Reviews
The 5 personal change barriers instant test
How to identify someones main worry about a coming change. I found this technique in a book a long time ago – "The Secret Language of Success: Using Body Language to Get What You Want" by Dr. David Lewis (1989). I confess I never got round to testing it properly but it sounded intriguing so I pass it on - "buyer beware".
Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK
Related Bioteams Features Articles
The Bioteaming Manifesto
The Bioteaming Manifesto is the definitive summary of the key principles of Bioteaming kindly published by ChangeThis. For a free download of the full (34-page) document please click here
Bioteams Instant Assessment Tool: Improved Version
I am pleased to announce a new version of the Flash-based Bioteams Instant Team Assessment tool which provides an online snapshot of how much a team is operating like a bioteam. Many Thanks to Jo, Chris and others for their very helpful feedback and suggestions.
The Bioteaming Breakthrough for High Performance Teams
To succeed in work environments today, you must be able to work in teams - but they are not your father's teams anymore. Bioteams are the most appropriate ways to think about teams, networks and organizations in today's interconnected world. Nature's teams display four traits that don't naturally seem to occur in organizational teams and that I contend make a huge difference to human performance. Read the full article at THE BPM Institute.
Leave a comment