“You can have all the right strategies in the world; if you don’t have the right culture, you’re dead.” — Patrick Whitesell
Have you ever heard of the term “Pecking Order”? If you are familiar with flocks of chickens in any way, you have. The pecking order is a structure for chickens in a flock that sets the rank of what chickens are responsible for. It determines the order in which chickens are allowed to access food, water, and who gets the most comfortable nesting boxes and the best spots on the roosting bar! The pecking order is, literally, determined by just that, “pecking”. The bigger, stronger, and more aggressive chickens bully their way to the top of the flock by pecking the others into submission with their pointy beaks. First they strut about, fluffing their feathers, and squawk, but if that doesn’t get the point across, they peck. It can get violent. Sometimes blood is drawn; occasionally, the opponent is killed!
The chicken at the top of the pecking order has a special role to play in the flock. Because they are so strong and healthy, it’s their responsibility to keep constant watch for predators and usher the others to safety when a circling hawk appears or a strange rustling is heard in the bushes nearby. The top chicken is also expected to be an expert at sniffing out food sources, such as a nest of tasty grubs under a fallen log, or a bunch of kitchen scraps that maybe the farmer dropped on their way to the compost pile. Even though the top chicken has the right to eat first, he or she usually lets the others feed, while keeping a vigilant watch for predators, and dines only after everyone else has had their fill.
Farmers look at multiple ways to keep harmony in the flock. For example, the less space chickens have to roam, the more violent they are in establishing and maintaining the pecking order. The coop design also matters. Farmers will cut down on the chickens getting too cranky by hanging feeders and waterers in the middle of an open area, rather than in a corner, so there is plenty of room for the birds to maneuver.
Remember I mentioned how some of the pecking order battles can get bloody? Some of the bloodiest battles occur when a new chicken or group of new chickens are introduced to an existing flock – this upsets the pecking order, which must then be re-established. If the new chickens are younger or are substantially outnumbered by the existing flock, the consequences can be really bad. The chickens actually have the gory habit of ganging up on any chicken that is bleeding and pecking at the red wound. If the wounded chicken isn’t separated from its attackers, it may be pecked to death. The other chickens will then eat it. (Sorry for the visual – But this is an important part of this teaching)… To prevent these civil wars and head off the cannibalistic tendencies of chickens, experienced chicken farmers try to gradually introduce new chickens to each other. The most common method is to fence off an area inside the chicken run for the new chickens, so everyone can get their aggression out without causing physical harm. After a couple days, remove the fence and let them mingle.
Final thing before we relate this to our Leadership… Humans are also part of the pecking order. Hens tend to respect humans as the default leader of the flock, but some roosters will challenge that wisdom and seek to overthrow the farmer from the top of the pecking order. Aggressive roosters range from pesky to dangerous. One option is to put on thick leather gloves and pin an overly aggressive rooster to the ground every time it comes after you, which usually establishes dominance and puts an end to the pecking. But if that doesn’t work, most farmers opt for a different plan — The Grill!!!
Many employees in organizations today will tell you that they feel like their company fosters a pecking order culture to identify their leaders. The managers will use whatever means possible, ethical or not, to see which leader emerges from the flock. They feel that making employees go against each other is key to the success of the organization. They view it as the “Top Chicken” succeeds by suppressing the productivity of others. They use their power and authority to serve themselves at the expense of others which results in dysfunction. This environment fosters fear and control and prevents any type of positive culture and morale boost. The people of the organization only voice opinions that they feel support the highest in the hierarchy for fear of offending anyone. People are stuck in their “silos” and compete against each other within the same company. This results in higher employee turnover and low employee engagement towards the mission of the company. The Quality employees know they can’t change the company culture since it starts with top leaders. Employees who have enough industry experience soon leave for a healthier environment where they can focus on their professional development rather than the internal politics mess.
Contrary to the pecking order — People enjoy working with other great team members and respect each other’s experience and find this culture much more motivating. The best employees need to get to know each other in order to help each other. We all have challenges in our day-to-day work and things don’t always go as planned. Our people need to be comfortable talking to each other. This is built through trust and loyalty among the team. This is known as a positive culture company and is the absolute key to a successful future and for sustained organizational growth over time. Employees that sincerely feel a connection with others at work will always stay longer at the company. If your company has engaged team members and low turnover, chances are you’re building a great culture within the organization!
It takes time to build trust and value. Teams that work together longer will ALWAYS perform better. It’s important to understand what happens between the team members. Everybody has value and is heard when you build a positive culture organization. The toxic “Super Chickens” do not last long as they tend to eliminate each other. The scary part is they tend to drive out the quality employees before they eliminate each other. I made this mistake early on in my leadership as I just didn’t realize what I was doing until I saw that we had some toxic culture traits appearing! I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT let this happen with your Team. It takes top leadership and engaged managers to monitor this every single day and apply positive team building methods!
Let me ask you this… Is it time to rethink your leadership style?