Peacock Behavior at Work
The peacock has been studied for hundreds of years, and kept as pets for thousands. Researchers have been drawn to its iridescent colors, the length and design of its tail feathers, and its group behavior. A peacock can have as many as 200 tail feathers that make up its “train” which is 60% of the bird’s total body length. If you’re ever in India you can see a blue peacock in its natural habitat, or a green peacock in Myanmar, or a smaller red one in the Congo. The train, when fanned out, creates a nearly 5 ft wall that touches the ground on each side. When the peacock senses a mate or a threat, it vibrates its backside opening its tail feathers, revealing shimmering colors and eye prints that are hard to ignore. This behavior is meant to attract the attention of a mate, to outshine competition for a female, or show a predator that this is not an easy meal. A peacock’s fanned tail feathers are a signal to others to come near or to go away.
At work, like a peacock, a leader’s behavior can draw people in or drive them away. Sometimes the same behavior will both draw people in and drive others away. It is this peacocking, used as a verb for leadership behavior, that we will discuss today. Are you the type of leader who walks into the room and makes everything about him or herself? Are you the type of leader who talks using words like “us” and “we” when you are really talking about “me” and “me”? More scarily, are you the type of leader who believes his or her own hype so intensely that you mistreat people and convince yourself that what you are doing is good and everyone else sees your behavior as good too? I’ve had a boss exactly like that who would suck all the air out of the room. This boss was completely drunk on his own kool aid, would mistreat others, talk incessantly about himself, and was convinced that everyone loved and respected him. Whenever I ran into anyone who knew him, they’d respond with some variation of, “that guy has a real high opinion of himself”. I’d usually maintain diplomacy and try to ignore the comment, one time I laughed. Here, I’ll call this type of leader a “mecock” because this peacocking is self serving.
On the other side are the leaders who people look to for consistency, stability, and support. They use their position and influence to remove barriers, support others, and build the team. This behavior, I will call “wecocking” because this peacocking is meant to serve others. This wecock will seek out others, build them up, and encourage them to give him feedback in its rawest form. Sometimes it won’t be fun to hear but it will support the leader’s success and build essential trust necessary for a long tenure. I’ve been a mecock, and I’ve been a wecock, the latter has to worry less about mutiny, stresses less, and sleeps better at night.
If you’ve ever seen the movie Outbreak, you’re familiar with Major General Donald “Donnie” McClintock (mecock). A great movie I’ve watched more than once during this pandemic, don’t judge. There are bigger narcissistic characters in movies and life that could have been used, but this one uses his service to the president as a sanctimonious shield for his behavior. He treats people poorly, particularly Lieutenant Colonel Briggs. Ultimately, Brigadier General Billy Ford (in a wecock moment) grows tired of McClintock’s behavior and relieves him of command and orders Lieutenant Colonel Briggs to arrest him. In real life it takes years for people to get fed up enough to speak truth to a narcissist, in the movie 30 years plays out in 90 minutes and makes that point clear.
Like the fanned feathers of a peacock, attention is drawn to the boss. This attention is paid because of the position the leader holds, not necessarily because the leader him or herself is special in any particular way. In Baboon Behavior Works I wrote about Robert Sapolsky, a neuroendocrinologist who studies baboon behavior. What he discovered is that members of the baboon troop would look at the alpha once every 20 seconds. Human behavior is the same resulting in this conclusion, they know you better than you know them. They will know what you say to people, how you treat people, they will draw conclusions, and create narratives that will be shared throughout the organization. These narratives will define what people should expect when they come in contact with you. In short, if you’re a mecock, they will know it. If you’re a wecock, they will know it. This narrative can’t be manipulated with long diatribes about what you say others say about you because they are hearing directly from others about you.
The most effective and successful leaders, wecocks, are the ones who use their position and influence to build a culture of support and service to members of the team. Lets face it, you have to have a certain type of personality to be drawn to a leadership role in the first place. You have to have a positive opinion of yourself to believe you can lead organizations of people. That type of confidence on its own isn’t a problem. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa are world famous wecocks whose names are recognizable for the sacrifices they made for others. Cards on the table, they did have mecock moments, but their body of work is undeniable. It's when your self interest comes at a cost to others and their interest, your mecock moments outnumber your wecock moments, that you become a self absorbed emperor with no clothes in a fool’s paradise. There are no mecocks who universally inspire.
Peacocks are beautiful creatures who live around 20 years. If you’re able to lead that long, your career would be seen as a major success. Principals and District Superintendent tenures are usually done in four usually due to the many mecocks they have to compete with while doing their jobs. Leading isn’t easy even in the best of conditions, you improve your chances at success by wecocking even when sharing a room full of mecocks all shaking their feathers directly at you. Your people will see that you are all about them and will perform and work to see you succeed. Wecock, draw more people in, listen and support them, and you will SOAR!
William A. Brown August 2, 2020
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/group/peacocks/
http://soarsuccessfully.com/articles-details.php?id=96