Message from Karynne
I grew up on an outback sheep station – 3 hours drive from town over dusty unsealed roads. The town had 9 hotels and 2 grocery stores, and we only went there every 6 weeks or so to stock up on our supplies. Living in such a remote area made us very self-sufficient and resilient. We had a vegetable garden, had sheep and cattle for our meat, and we kept hens for eggs.
Every year, we would order our hens from the city poultry farmers. They were only young, 18months old, and were considered “burnt out” by the egg farmers. We would buy four dozen at a time – for about 20 cents a chook!
We would drive the three hours into town, and pick them up from the rail depot. They were transported in large cardboard cartons with little airholes cut out. We’d bring them back home, tie the dogs up, and then open the boxes. Out would fall the most bedraggled creatures we’d ever seen – They were often featherless, their crests pale and shabby, and their claws overgrown. They had spent their entire lives inside a cage in tin sheds – under intense 24 hour artificial lighting, expected to lay to maximum capacity – sometimes two eggs per day. They had never seen the sunshine or felt the earth beneath their feet. Some of them even had their beaks removed to prevent them from pecking their eggs. We just let them out into the yard to learn how to be chooks – to pick at the green weeds, scratch for worms and bugs, and cluck at each other. After only a couple of weeks, their crests became a deeper, healthier red, their feathers grew back, and they even “walked taller”…..the most amazing thing is that they started to lay eggs again.
The point of my story is: when we create environments that focus on Who we are, that allow us to express our values and nourish us, then our natural talents and energy are released. The impossible becomes possible, and results exceed expectations.
By focussing on the who – allowing them to be the best they could be, the “what” came naturally – of course they would lay eggs – that’s what hens do…so instead of saying now go off and lay lots of eggs, we let them go off and be wonderful chooks – and laying eggs was a natural consequence. How often in organisations do we ask our people to lay more eggs – turn the lights up, increase performance, keep producing….and we’ll replace you as soon as you slow down…..If we focus more on the nurturing of our people, providing the environment that allows them to be the best they can be, then the natural consequence is for the to DO whatever it is they do best…trust that if they are healthy, stimulated, encouraged and believed in, you will have all the eggs you need!
My work involves helping people discover the environments that will most nourish them – understanding the values that give them energy to passionately and enthusiastically do what they naturally can do. It’s not about teaching people how to lay eggs – it’s about reminding them how to be good chooks!
Our organisations and governments, and individual consumers pour millions of dollars into working out ways to lay more eggs – bigger, cheaper, faster, quicker, more! Tools that are supposed to be designed to make it easier have made us less productive, and many people are burnt out, exhausted, tired, sad, depressed! In order to shift the focus from maximizing egg production to cultivating healthy and happy chooks, we have to challenge our assumptions and beliefs that have created our current situations. The Australian outback offers us some beautiful, relevant and meaningful guidelines that help us not only in the bush, but in leadership and life itself!
