By flying in V-formation, the whole flock adds about 70 percent greater flying range that if each bird flew alone. When a goose falls out of formation, it immediately feels the drag of trying to go it alone and quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it. When the lead goose tires, it rotates to the back of the formation and another goose takes a turn up front as the leader. For the faith community, this means shared leadership and interdependence keep us flying high and give each of us opportunities to lead and to rest. Geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed in the faith community, where there is mutual encouragement and team spirit, productivity is greatly enhanced.
Affirmation is the strongest antidote to burn-out.
The power of encouragement to stand by one's core values and encourage the heart and core values of others is a quality we should seek in our corporate life. Never forget you are one of God's geese. When a goose gets sick or wounded and falls out of formation, two other geese drop out with it and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies. Further, we need to be able to rely on the church to be there when it is most needed.