African Painted Dogs: AGILE Experts

I’m not saying I’d want to come face to face with any large predator on the African savannah, but if there’s a group of animals any animal should be scared of, it’s the African painted dog. You might otherwise know them as African wild dogs, or painted wolves, or you may have never heard of them at all, because they are often looked over while the attention goes to the big cat predators like lions, cheetahs, and leopards. To paint the picture of a painted dog, no pun intended there, think of a large German Shepard, mixed with a hyena, mixed with a leopard, and then multiple that by about 20, because these dogs keep lots of company. We’ll return to that later, but what’s so special about a pack of painted dogs? Why talk about this species and not a more well-known predator?

Because for this post, it’s all about studying success rate, or, let’s be honest here, kill rate. For reference, lions, even when hunting as a pride, have a success rate of about 20%. Cheetahs, which are solo hunters, triple that rate to 60%. Three big meals for every five attempts ain’t bad if you’re just hunting for one, plus maybe a few cubs. But, what if you’re looking out for your whole team and trying to feed an entire pack of 20+ painted dogs? The only way to sustain the health of a group that size is to be lethal hunters, and that’s exactly what painted dogs are. The success rate of a pack of painted dogs? 85%! You know how many people I work with that dream of a performance success rate of 85%?! All of them! If you’re an animal on the African savannah, basically you just need to hope that you’re not on the painted dogs’ menu that day, because if a pack is headed your way, statistics are not in your favor!

I honestly can’t believe it’s taken this long for me to do a post with an animal hunt theme. Growing up the National Geographic channel was my obsession! Well, that, and Power Rangers, but, the animals on Nat Geo fascinated me! Even today I’ll drag my wife into watching Our Planet or any of the other nature documentaries that have come out more recently. The 4k HD video quality is also a big draw here, obviously. But, back to our painted dogs...

So, the corporate L&D industry used to have the luxury of time and authority, meaning that any new learning or employee development tool in the workplace could be studied in a sterile environment and all the bugs could be worked out before releasing the program onto the masses. Those masses also had few resources when it came to learning on their own, because before the internet, information was just slower moving. Long story short here, the internet comes along and people gain access to a LOT more information whenever and wherever they want.

What this meant for the L&D world was that in order to roll-out any type of new program, they needed to do it fast, because if they took too much time in development, it’d either be outdated or employees would have found some version of the information on their own, but with no control from the company as to how this information was utilized. L&D professionals evolved by creating a learning method called Agile. Quick sidenote here, the industry seems to discuss Agile as more of a noun than an adjective, although sometimes it’s used interchangeably, which can be a little confusing, but just letting you into my thoughts here in case it looks like I have horrible grammar!

So what is Agile? Basically it’s a learning environment and method that emphasizes three main components: Speed, Flexibility, and Collaboration.

Speed is the element that points to moving quickly over moving in any specific direction. The thinking is that if you’re going to fail, fail as quickly as possible so you can know exactly what doesn’t work and try something else. An emphasis on speed gets your group moving, and you let performance feedback dictate your next moves.

The flexibility element focuses on the idea of, well, literal agility, the ability to change directions when needed. This was the big issue with the old-school learning environment, because it was hard to change a program once it was rolled-out. You’ve already sunk so many resources into making the program, we better try to make it work. This kept a lot of unhelpful programs alive. With Agile and a flexibility focus, the individual or group easily pivoted because there were never wholesale changes being made in the first place. Plus, groups understood that it was going to be a messier process, so they were prepared to keep moving quickly and pivot when needed.

Finally, the Collaboration element focuses on the need to work as a team and have the same North Star. If the outcome goal isn’t clear and there’s not enough collaboration on attaining it, the speed and flexibility go of course really quickly. Think running quickly but in random directions and at random times with no order. Collaboration brings the pieces of the puzzle together.

But enough theory. Let’s get back to our African painted dogs. Here’s why these animals are Agile masters and what we can learn from them.

For one, yes they are physically fast, so there’s an obvious speed component there, but more importantly, these dogs are always looking for hunting opportunities. They don’t wait around and go out for a specific hunt, they moreso just roam their territory and chase down whatever they come across.

The flexibility is really important for painted dogs too, because they charge at a herd of wildebeest without knowing exactly which one the pack is going to go after, and yet each dog is able to notice where they can best assist in the hunt and will change when necessary for the benefit of the pack.

And, obviously, collaboration and pack hunting speaks for itself here with the painted dogs success rate and working as a unit to take down an animal much bigger than any one of them.

So here’s the takeaway from African painted dogs and Agile learning environments: As a teacher, coach, or manager, you may be more accurate if you wait until you have more information and create the perfect learning plan. The issue is that the opportunity to use that plan might pass you by if you wait too long. It also keeps the planning in your hands without collaborating with your student, who might have some really helpful ideas about their own development! By focusing on creating an Agile environment, you are forcing yourself to be fast, flexible, and collaborative, making many small adjustments in search of the thing that works. It takes the pressure off of needing to make the one right decision, because there’s so many micro-decisions taking place, and no single decision is going to make or break.

Once you get good at Agile, I can’t promise your outcome success rate will be 85% like the African painted dogs, but the point here is to develop an Agile mindset. Instead of waiting for more information and adhering perfectly to the scientific method, you’re continuously moving, iterating, and making mini-adjustments.

You’re working towards being more successful, even if it’s just a little bit, instead of trying to be perfect.

That outlook alone can make a huge difference.

It certainly makes all the difference for a pack of African painted dogs.