What Can School Teams Learn from Geese?

My last two posts have been reflections on what I've learned this fall about the role that teams can play in transforming schools. The final installment in this series is not original -- I didn't come up with these ideas -- but just in case you haven't come across "Lessons We Learn from Geese," I wanted to share these. There are many versions of this all over the Internet, all of which say, "Author unknown." Here's a version I like.

Lessons We Learn from Geese

During the fall, thousands of Canada Geese migrate from northern Canada to the central U.S. They fly in a V-formation at speeds of 60 miles per hour, honking constantly. They can fly for 16 hours without resting.

How do they do this? Through teamwork. So what can we learn from these geese?

How Can We Use This?

I often offer this to teams as they begin working together. "What resonates for you?" I ask. Everyone loves the idea of honking at each other for encouragement. In one school, a teacher (who could be a little cantankerous) suggested that when attending staff meetings, everyone wear hats reading, "We're the honkers, not the honkies!" On many occasions teachers at that site began honking like geese at moments in which they wanted to cheer for each other (a little odd looking, but very meaningful for them).

What resonates for you? Have you ever worked at a site where the wisdom of geese was at play? What other symbolic representations of effective teams are moving to you?