Leadership of the Ants

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Gil Davidson, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

Ants are very purposeful and productive. I distinctly remember as a child watching trails of ants, all walking in a straight line, all busily moving towards some invisible goal. It wasn’t good leadership that kept them on track, moving in the right direction, it was a scent trail left behind by the scout ant. Once the scout ant found food it would return to the nest, leaving a scent behind it for the ‘worker’ ants to follow.

My brother and I loved smudging the scout ant’s trail with our fingers. We would watch the trail of worker ants stop at the point we had interrupted their trail and busily sniff around to try and re-establish the scent. Even when we had created a large area of ‘distracting smell’ by rubbing our fingers across their line, they would continue forward in their commitment to regain the scent they knew would lead them to food. As soon as the first ant re-established the line of scent, the others would all follow.
In many ways entrepreneurial leadership is much like the scout ant who is relied on to come up with a unique idea or way of doing things that will provide food for all the other ants. So what makes a good scout ant or entrepreneurial leader?

Ants Like Us
There are two key elements in our ant story. First the worker ants needed to be able to follow the scout ant’s trail without the scout ant being present all the time. He left them a very clear trail. Secondly the worker ants needed to believe that by following the trail they would in fact find food. They needed to believe that the scout ant’s trail would lead them to something they valued. In the case of the ant it was food. In the case of the entrepreneur (for the purposes of our story the ‘entrepreneurial/leader ant’) it could be anything from a stimulating, secure work environment to making their employee’s rich or famous.

Ideas Sell
Let’s look at each in more detail starting with the second point. Typically worker ants will choose to work for the entrepreneur/leader ant because they either believe in the ant or the ant’s idea. They believe that by signing up and by following the entrepreneur ant’s lead they will gain benefit that will lead to their personal goals and values being met. They will have an opportunity to learn, grow, earn good money. The entrepreneur ant will provide them with a chance to belong to something bigger than themselves and will provide them with a clearly scented trail to get there. They have joined forces with the entrepreneurial ant because they believe in where it will lead them.
The scout ant has, I assume, a gland that secretes a scent for the worker ants to follow. What makes up the trail of the entrepreneur? He/she doesn’t have any secretion glands (or at least none that will entice it’s workers to follow), and so needs to rely on a different form of communication.

Make a Mark
The entrepreneurial ant communicates it’s trail through;
• publicly stated words of intent (strategy, vision, business plans) that inspire
• deciding which of the worker’s actions to reward, punish or ignore and being consistent in these decisions
• where it allocates it’s cash,
• the degree and consistency with which the entrepreneurial/leader ant believes in itself and its direction.
As an entrepreneurial/leader ant, looking back on this last year, ask yourself, “How strong and how clear is the scent of your entrepreneurial/leadership trail?” and “Are your worker ants moving forward in a clear and purposeful line towards the promised benefit or are they having to deal with a lot of smudges in the trail?”