Do the Waggle Dance: 3 Communication and Management Lessons We Can Learn From Bees

Bees are fascinating organisms that have been in the world for around 130 million years and they have developed captivating social abilities. In addition to being a key player in our ecosystem, bees represent a breathtaking example of how communication is essential to operate and thrive.

On top of this, bees are embedded in our company’s name and culture, so today I’ll share with you three things we can learn from bees about improving internal communication and organizational management:

Pablo González is the head salesperson for Beekeeper in Australia. In his series of posts Pablo shares his insights or answers the most important questions clients ask him.

Have a question for Pablo? Ask him!

1. Communicate Using Clear and Engaging Messages.

Transmitting clear, simple and engaging messages to your coworkers is the first lesson that bees teach us today. Have you ever wondered how bees know where to fly and get pollen from flowers far away from the hive? Well, after Worker Bees scout the surroundings and find nectary flowers, they come back to the hive and inform the rest of their teammates where to fly to. How? They dance. Yes, to convey their message, bees do what scientists call the ‘waggle dance’.

With a clear, simple and engaging dance, Worker Bees can inform others about the exact distance and location of flowers.

2. Harness Collective Decision-Making.

We might think that the Queen rules the beehive, but these complex colonies are far from being monarchies. Every summer, many beehives become so packed that there’s no room to accommodate another bee. The decision of where to relocate the colony is taken by the workers. First, some scout bees, along with the Queen, go out, explore possible spots, and then come back to the hive to inform the rest about the nest site they liked the most by doing their famous ‘waggle dance’.The rest of the workers follow their hive mates’ instructions, visit the spot and if they like it too they vote by replicating the exact same ‘waggle dance’. After a couple of days, all bees choose their next home based on collective decision-making.

3. Define Clear Work and Goals Specification.

Not every bee is dedicated to producing honey. Within a typical beehive there are different tasks allocated to each of the three types of bees; the Queen, the Male Drone Bees and the Worker or Forager Bees. The Queen mainly lays eggs (over a million during a lifetime), Male Drone Bees have the specific responsibility of mating with the Queen and the Worker Bees have the very clear set of tasks to collect pollen and nectar, produce honey, build and defend the hive, and protect the Queen.

Each and every task is destined to fulfill the common goals of survival: eating, protecting each other and reproducing.

At Beekeeper, bees have become a beautiful inspiration to understand the power of internal communication. With our platform’s features you can emulate bees by making decisions collectively using polls, sending clear, simple and engaging messages within group chats and making common goals clear to everyone! Start doing the waggle dance at your company, too.

Have a question about Beekeeper? Ask Pablo here, and he might answer in a future post!

To see how Beekeeper can assist in communication and management, request a free demo.