The Rule of Cohesion: Attaching to Something Bigger (Part 2/4)

This is the second of a four-part series of articles looking at the similarities between the three rules of the swarm (cohesion, alignment and separation). This article covers the rule of cohesion and how we can draw parallels between swarms, flocks and organisational behaviour.

In flocking or swarming, the Rule of Cohesion is to “steer towards the average position (central mass) of local flockmates”. When a swarm of bees leaves a hive, each bee has an option to join the swarm or stay in the hive.

One of the greatest challenges for the founders and leaders of any company is to create cohesion. In order to fulfil their visions and promises, they have to strike a balance between the promises they make to their customers, their shareholders and their suppliers.

Cohesivity is subtle and needs to be seen as involving all these ‘parts’ as if they all form one ecosystem or organism. Sheila Heen explores this in an excellent podcast, “Decoding difficult conversations” – something that all leaders might be well advised to listen to in these current times. (3)

The Rule of Cohesion tends to be especially important in start-ups and early-stage companies. They want to attract the right combinations of prospects and people to grow themselves, whilst also having the flexibility to change or ‘pivot’ their ideas several times in order to align themselves better to opportunistic market needs. Too much rigidity and the people may go elsewhere or try to form sub-factions within. Too much flexibility (eg too loose role descriptions, treading on each other’s toes, or customers getting different information from different departments) and the company is at risk of falling to bits.

The queen bee’s primary role in a colony of bees is laying fertile eggs but she has another vital role. The binding strength in the colony is based on something called the ‘queen’s pheromone’– a sort of perfume that she gives off, which is passed from bee to bee and which acts as a binding agent within the colony.

As in the bee world, to create cohesion within an organisation there has to be a clear sense of belonging to something bigger than oneself. It is crucial, for any CEO (particularly in the start-up stage) to give staff the space they need to develop and expand their ideas, to feel valued and to have a sense of potential career progression.

People need to feel secure, in the sense of feeling connected and part of a team. (The lone bee is much more likely to be picked off by a bird than the bees in the centre of a swarm.) But they also need to feel that they can speak out and that their contributions will be considered, even if they go against conventional thinking. Encouraging cognitive diversity in this way helps guard against groupthink (which can lead to stagnation), while setting realistic objectives cuts the risk of overwork and, ultimately, burnout.

Mitigating these risks will lead to better morale and lead to good employee retention. In my experience, the binding force in any organisation is something quite ephemeral. It can be described in many different ways but often comes down to the intangible concept of organisational ‘culture’ or organisational ‘glue’.

There is still much swashbuckling talk in the business world about “survival of the fittest”. Yet nature doesn’t work that way at all. Indeed, Charles Darwin, in his seminal work The Descent of Man, mentions ‘survival of the fittest’ just twice – but ‘love’ no fewer than 95 times, in connection with the natural world. Organisations need passion. And people naturally cohere to organisations that are loving in the widest sense – ie nurturing of their emotional needs whilst serving the needs of others.

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Based on an article I wrote entitled “Organisational Health. Still more to learn from the birds and bees” in the Human Givens Journal Volume 27, No.1 2020

(3) Heen, S (2019). Decoding difficult conversations. The Knowledge Project Podcast #57