Whilst I was in Cork the week before last, I went to witness the murmuration of starlings above the village of Tomoleague. Don’t worry, I didn’t know the word murmuration either; in fact it is rare enough for Microsoft spellchecker not to recognise it as a genuine spelling. A murmuration is a flock of birds and is frequently used for a flock of starlings. The word is onomatopoeic, meaning that the word itself is a description of the sound that a flock of starlings makes as it wings about the sky. In fact whilst the spectacular display of synchronised flying occurs by many thousands of birds, there is no sound apart from the murmuring of thousands of tiny wings. It was a mesmerising experience which you can enjoy too through this link. It’s worth watching as it includes an attempted raid by a peregrine falcon.
It is amazing how this group of thousands of birds manages to wheel about the sky in such an organised fashion. It seems to be something that is programmed in their bird brains which are certainly not as deficient as the expression suggests. Just before dusk, small groups of birds arrive from all directions and then gradually coalesce into larger and larger flocks. The display begins in earnest. Their formations become tighter and more synchronised the longer the display goes on. Towards the end there is only a black blob of birds tightly packed together like a swarm of bees. After about 30 minutes, the flock suddenly dives simultaneously into a nearby wood to rest for the night. In a few weeks they will all decide to up sticks and make their way toward Russia. I agree that may not seem such a smart move.
Why do starlings murmurate in the first place? First there is safety in numbers. If you view the video, it is very difficult for a falcon to target one bird amongst such numbers. Secondly they overnight together to exchange information about food sources and to help each other keep warm. This is great team work and a lesson for human beings who do not find it so easy to organise themselves into functional units. What is natural for starlings and part of their unlearned behaviour is much less intuitive in the human race. We might band into small self-contained units but we seem to find it harder to work in larger numbers. Often the desire to compete trumps the need to work as a team. Instead of working together to achieve a common objective, there is chaos as groups seek to achieve their own individual ends.
Our entire senior management team have recently been assessed as to their personality profile based on colours. Having undertaken a number of personality tests in the past, this colour system has the benefit of being easy to understand. Red personalities are task driven and if you want to get through to them as a manager, be brief, bright and be gone. Blue personality types are analytical, precise and give attention to the detail. If a manager wants to engage with them, give them lots of figures and loads of detail. Green personality types are caring, considerate and supportive and to get through to them you have to show you care. Yellow types (like me) are talkative and enthusiastic and to get through to them they need to be involved.
Oh if we only had bird brains and could all wheel about together! However, if you can make humans work as a team, the results are spectacular, with the different personality types working to all of their individual strengths which compensates for the weaknesses. It helps if you have a common purpose and our simple aim of making a positive difference in all that we do is a good start. The 97% of our clients who would use us again and recommend us to a friend hopefully demonstrate that even lawyers can murmurate!