Top 7 Tips for Overcoming Buffaloes With Others

Top 7 Tips for Overcoming Buffaloes With Others

You may have read or heard me tell about life with menacing water buffaloes near Kangundo, Kenya, were I grew up. Buffaloes came to my community without warning. When there was a buffalo in the village, life changed completely.

The first time I heard women screaming, it was because there was a buffalo in the village.  The first time I visited a person in hospital, he had been stampeded upon by a buffalo.  I saw a lion climbing a tree to escape from a buffalo in a Discovery Presentation.  A single lion would never dare to attack a buffalo.  It takes a pack of 4-5 lions about 6-8 hours to kill a buffalo.

When there was a buffalo in the village, running away or a climbing tree were not options.

This analogy applies to the daily challenges we face whether in the workplace or at home. Those challenges are our "social buffaloes"-life storms that threaten our professional endeavors or our personal tranquility. They can affect large and small organizations. No one is exempt from their (social buffaloes) threat. No private or public organizations can stop social buffaloes from appearing in their "village."

When you or your organization is face-to-face with a fierce buffalo, there is no short cut-just as villagers could not run away or climb trees, neither can you escape from the buffalo trumpeting you your organization. You have a strategy and a team to help overcome the beast.

Traditional knowledge has it that in some communities, when a buffalo was sighted, young men would gather with spears and form a circle as they approached it.  One person would spear the buffalo and then run away. As the buffalo pursued the first spear-thrower, another person speared it from another side. The buffalo would change direction and run toward the source of new pain. This went on until the beast was overpowered.

We you think of that team of young men, you can't fail to realize that there were 7 attributes that glued them together in their goal-to overcome a buffalo.

Recognize that a buffalo can't be brought down with a single spear. Your skills alone are not adequate for the challenges you or your team is facing. A team, whether in the workplace or elsewhere, brings a pool of talents, knowledge, encouragement and other parameters that make your contribution shine.

 Here are top 7 tips for overcoming buffaloes with others

• 1. There is need for unwavering commitment.
• 2. Each member must have the desire to contribute to the best of his or her ability.
• 3. Clear communication should be the thread that's keep the team together.
• 4. There must be collaboration, not competition.
• 5. There should be away of staying connected to the goal and each other's progress.
• 6. Each one must be flexible and able to adapt to changing circumstances
• 7. Have an established system for resolving conflicts with compromising the team's goal.