By Helen Vollmer, President, Edelman SouthwestElsie the Cow and her bovine husband, Elmer, of the Borden’s brand knew something that until now we humans didn’t. According to a new report on animal behavior that I read about (www.earthweek.com) this weekend, cows make best friends within a herd. Yep - cows have BFFs. And, apparently, if separated from their buddy, they become stressed and can produce less milk.
“When heifers have their preferred partner with them, their stress levels in terms of their heart rate are reduced compared with if they were with a random individual,” says doctoral student Krista McLennan of Britain’s Northampton University.
All of which begs the question: if this is true of cows, how much less productive are humans when separated by those they love or like a lot? From real warriors in the military to road warriors taking care of business, what is the impact of leaving your best friend behind? Holy cow! This could be huge in terms of making us all more effective and efficient in our jobs.
Clearly, we can’t all be joined at the hip all the time. But efficiency experts do tell us that working in an environment that is enjoyable with strong relationships and a feeling of mutual trust does boost morale and improve productivity. In fact, The Great Place to Work Institute (www.greatplacetowork.com) which annually conducts Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best” list believes that the defining characteristic of a great place to work is a culture based on trusting relationships. In a high trust environment, people cooperate and collaborate, leading to positive interactions and higher profits.
All this time, I thought those cows searching for shade under a big old oak tree were just hot. Now I know that it’s really their version of a conference room where they’re collaborating on how to take over the round up. Just proving that cows are a lot smarter than I ever gave them credit for and we humans have a lot to learn about how to reduce stress.
