Learnings from Paleontologists
A recent family trip brought us to Calgary and Banff, Albert, Canada.
One of the amazing activities I did was to visit the Dinosaurs Provincial Park. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. 58 dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums around the Globe. There are on-going projects that paleontologists discover and unearth mammal fossils from the park as the natural erosion of the land continues.
Why am I talking about dinosaurs?
In fact, I’ve only started to be more interested in dinosaurs when my son went through the stage of dinosaur’s exploration age, about 12 years ago. It was incredibly challenging for me to remember the different names when he once was able to name them like singing a song! 😊
I wanted to share this experience of the visit of the park not just because I took the tour in a restricted access area where I saw the evidence of those ancient dinosaurs that lived there 75 million years ago; it’s also to share the learnings from paleontologists that can be applied for leaders like you!
Five Learnings from paleontologists:
1) Curiosity
Paleontologists learn about animals through the fossils with curiosity to learn about how they might have lived, what they ate to survive, how they interact with their species, how they got injured, and how they died.
For leaders, curiosity prompts for asking questions, learn about their team members, more understanding of their uniqueness, how to motivate and inspire them to collaborate and perform with optimal results. It also allows leaders to continue to develop and grow and be future-ready leaders.
2) Resourceful – Paleontologists need to be resourceful as they face challenges from the environment, workforce limitations, and economical constraints. They must be flexible, creative to solve problems.
For leaders, being resourceful is key to turn challenges to opportunities and lead teams to success. They must encourage diverse ideas from all team members to encourage innovative solutions.
3) Patience
Paleontologists need to be patient as any discovery of dinosaur fossils take a team of effort and a lengthy process to excavate to preserve the best condition they can, to discover and learn about the species especially when there is a newly found one.
For leaders, developing and growing talent take patience and empathy to understand each person is different on their needs, learning styles, and communication. It’s critical for leaders to take time and effort to support and nurture their development.
4) Resilience – Paleontologists face setbacks as their discovers that years and might not be with results they had originally thought. They need to be resilient to bounce back and be adaptive to overcome challenges and uncertainties.
For leaders, resilience helps them face unexpected challenges, demanding situations, and continue to try diverse ways to find an alternative path for the solution it might take. Building resilience with their teams also become critical
5) Respect
Paleontologists respect nature, settlers, early explorers, and protects the ecosystem of the land. The discovery and excavation of the fossils are invaluable, but they are not done at all cost. Preserving the nature so that generations can continue to learn from the history is key.
For leaders, respect others of their natural abilities, unique qualities that they can learn from each other, collaborate in harmony with their teams and bring out the best of them to nourish their growth and performance.
How would you act and think more like a paleontologist this week to lead your team to move forward this week?
Share your thoughts in comments below. I would love to hear from you!
