Leadership Lessons from the King of the Jungle-the Lion

PAUL NYAUSARU AND CHIEDZA KADARE

Lions are one of the leading examples in as far demonstrating teamwork in the animal kingdom is concerned.

Lions are the only big cats with a social structure, and they live in a pride of 2 to 40 members.

This social structure is crucial for the lions’ survival. What key leadership lessons can we draw from lions?

• Teamwork

When lions go hunting, their preference is big game which they enjoy feeding on. Lions’ prey usually includes buffalos, zebras, and elephants. Defeating these huge animals is a huge task and requires the pride’s close cooperation.

What is the key lesson for teams? Employees need each other’s contributions to deal with challenging tasks. When team members unite and collaborate, it becomes easier to achieve big objectives. Thus as a leader, one needs to have the ability to mobilize and capitalize on the capabilities of each team member to be able to overcome challenges.

• Strategy Implementation

Before deciding on the animal to go for, lions take time to study a herd. To be able to do so, lions seek out weaknesses on the part of their prey, such as a sick, hurt or lone animal. What key lesson do we derive from that? Analytical leaders take time to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities.

• Delegation of duties

When hunting, each lion takes up a specific position and role. As lions fan out to surround the prey, the younger and weaker lions drive prey to the center. Meanwhile, the other strong lions attack from the sides and front.

Tip: Clearly defining employees’ jobs and responsibilities improves productivity. Effective duty delegation involves engaging employees in the best-suited jobs.

• Instilling Discipline

A strict discipline exists in the lion’s kingdom. For instance, the alpha males own the mating rights with pride females. If a younger male lion courts pride females, then the alpha lion fights them as a warning. However, if it does not reform, then the pride king takes stern measures by removing the erratic members from the pride land

There are critical lessons learnt in this behavior for HR professionals. For example, erratic employees deserve a second chance to improve their behavior. However, employees who disregard rules or refuse to submit to authority may end up terminated from employment. This means that discipline is progressive. First it has to be corrective but if the employee persists in his/her behavior then stern measures are taken.

• Exerting Authority

The scope of a lion’s authority is as far as its territory stretches. When non-pride lions invade a territory which is not theirs, the alpha male will exert their authority by roaring and sometimes even engaging in a fight.

There are key lessons for leaders in this case. Leaders should never ignore conflicts but should act upon the issues quickly causing the conflict. Leaders also need good conflict resolution skills for resolving disputes.

Chiedza Kadare is an OD Practitioner. You can get in touch with her on WhatsApp/call +263 77 283 0986 or Email chiedza.kadare@gmail.com

Paul Nyausaru is an OD Practitioner and leadership coach. For all your OD interventions and leadership development training you can get in touch with him on WhatsApp/call +263774062756 or Email pnyausaru@gmail.com