Dr. William M. Muir, Professor of Genetics at Purdue University, USA In the 1990s he conducted the “super chicken experiment”.
Dr. Muir is an evolutionary biologist and professor of genetics at the Purdue University, USA. His research is dedicated to group behavior and measuring productivity.
In the 1990s, Muir conducted a series of tests on the egg-laying productivity of chickens. His idea was to improve productivity by breeding the best producers. He called them “Super Chickens”. He therefore formed two groups: one control group of 9 avarage producing hens and one test group with “Super Chickens”, the highest quantity egg producers from each successive generation.
At the end of his study Muir was surprised about the results. The control group chickens were well-feathered, healthy, and producing more eggs than they were at the start of the experiment. However, the Super Chickens group was in disarray, or at least what was left of them. Only three hens survived after many were aggressively attacked by the other hens and pecked to death.
Does this remind you of your own professional environment? Any analogies? I guess too many people see the parallels to their work places and cultures. Most organizations cultivate an atmosphere and (formal or informal) system of internal competition: the surviving “Super Chickens” rise in hierarchy (in the pecking-order) and become the “leaders”. Their aggressive behaviour is incentivized. Even worse, new upcoming leaders see and learn, that this destructive behaviour has lead – an therefore – will lead to their own successful career…
But for which success? Total productivity and success remains below it’s maximum potential. Aggressive (pecking) behaviour by Super (Chicken) Leaders results in frustration, pain and harm, whereas “Average Chicken Behaviour” leads to a flourishing group life and total performance increase.
This is where Margaret Heffernan comes in. She is an American entrepreneur, chief executive, and author, raised in Holland, and educated at Cambridge University. Heffernans TED speech about Muirs study results and its implications for work and leadership culture became very poupular, worldwide.
As she points out, Super Chicken Behaviour just leads to aggression, suppression, disfunction and waste.
We definitely have to stop trying to be Super Chickens!
Based on Muir results, she points to the fact, that, in the long-term, truly performing teams can be characterized by (i) a high degree of social sensitivity and interaction, (ii) an equal distribution of time between its members and (iii) more female members (the question is why ;-)).
All in all, long-term performing teams can be characterized by their social connectedness. What happens between people really counts. It’s about their ability to ask for, get and give help to others.
What matters is the mortar, not the bricks. Social capital is what makes companies robust. _Margaret Heffernan
For me it’s evident: Companies don’t have ideas. Companies are not creative. Companies have no talent, only people do. And therefore it is a clever idea to care about the other as good as you can. Leadership must create conditions in which everyone can do their most courageous thinking and acting together. To value, respect and trust the other ones is what leads to sustainable performance (even when not in the very short-term). Bringing out the best in others is how you find the best leadership in yourself.
Margaret Heffernan (2015): Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes, TED Publication Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash, Portrait Muir: Purdue University.
In the 1990s he conducted the “super chicken experiment”.
Dr. Muir is an evolutionary biologist and professor of genetics at the Purdue University, USA. His research is dedicated to group behavior and measuring productivity.
In the 1990s, Muir conducted a series of tests on the egg-laying productivity of chickens. His idea was to improve productivity by breeding the best producers. He called them “Super Chickens”. He therefore formed two groups: one control group of 9 avarage producing hens and one test group with “Super Chickens”, the highest quantity egg producers from each successive generation.
At the end of his study Muir was surprised about the results. The control group chickens were well-feathered, healthy, and producing more eggs than they were at the start of the experiment. However, the Super Chickens group was in disarray, or at least what was left of them. Only three hens survived after many were aggressively attacked by the other hens and pecked to death.
Does this remind you of your own professional environment? Any analogies? I guess too many people see the parallels to their work places and cultures. Most organizations cultivate an atmosphere and (formal or informal) system of internal competition: the surviving “Super Chickens” rise in hierarchy (in the pecking-order) and become the “leaders”. Their aggressive behaviour is incentivized. Even worse, new upcoming leaders see and learn, that this destructive behaviour has lead – an therefore – will lead to their own successful career…
But for which success? Total productivity and success remains below it’s maximum potential. Aggressive (pecking) behaviour by Super (Chicken) Leaders results in frustration, pain and harm, whereas “Average Chicken Behaviour” leads to a flourishing group life and total performance increase.
This is where Margaret Heffernan comes in. She is an American entrepreneur, chief executive, and author, raised in Holland, and educated at Cambridge University. Heffernans TED speech about Muirs study results and its implications for work and leadership culture became very poupular, worldwide.
As she points out, Super Chicken Behaviour just leads to aggression, suppression, disfunction and waste.
Based on Muir results, she points to the fact, that, in the long-term, truly performing teams can be characterized by (i) a high degree of social sensitivity and interaction, (ii) an equal distribution of time between its members and (iii) more female members (the question is why ;-)).
All in all, long-term performing teams can be characterized by their social connectedness. What happens between people really counts. It’s about their ability to ask for, get and give help to others.
For me it’s evident: Companies don’t have ideas. Companies are not creative. Companies have no talent, only people do. And therefore it is a clever idea to care about the other as good as you can. Leadership must create conditions in which everyone can do their most courageous thinking and acting together. To value, respect and trust the other ones is what leads to sustainable performance (even when not in the very short-term). Bringing out the best in others is how you find the best leadership in yourself.
Margaret Heffernan (2015): Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes, TED Publication
Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash, Portrait Muir: Purdue University.