While staying in a tiny coastal town I noticed a flock of birds flitting between the trees and I quickly assumed that it was a random event, just a group of birds flying about.  The next day (at I what discovered was the same time as the previous day),  I noticed the birds again , this time I took the time to sit still and watch , and the magic that unfolded was truly amazing.

This was no random event , the flock flew as one, in definite patterns: figures of eight, expansive circles decreasing to tight ones , vast swoops from one end of the clutch of trees to another , and swoops that took the group high and then low.  There did not seem to be a leader nor was there at any stage a rigid formation, it appeared that occasionally on turns that several birds were “ left behind “ and when this occurred the group reformed so the laggards could be incorporated into the edges of the group. The flight continued for about 30 -40 minutes and happened on sunny days at 3.00pm each day during in my stay in the town.  If I really wanted a complete understanding of this event and a full explanation of the facts I would consult the experts as I know nothing about birds.  What I do know is that I could have missed out on discovering that there was more to simply a group of birds randomly and seemingly chaotically flying about the trees.

So it is with human behaviour . We join a new group of people, a new team at work as the leader or a member and after an initial period of time we think we have summed up what’s going on: the politics, the personalities, the way the team interacts, the implicit and explicit commitment to the goals, the unspoken rules, the culture and we make our judgements accordingly.  Perhaps we could suspend our hasty judgements now and then and wait for the magic to unfold, it will. There are often specks of gold in the dust.  No time you say, got get on with it .  Mmm, maybe and there is the risk of decisions being made in a vacuum devoid of facts and rich opportunities missed.