How honeybees inspired me to be better during the Covid-19 pandemic

Teknion is home to two beehives at our headquarters in Toronto. During the summer, we are lucky to host over 40,000 bees that are typically hustling and buzzing around on a warm sunny day. When I’d peek at the hives and see the thousands of bees going in and out of the hive, I can’t help but be inspired by their work ethic. With covid-19 bringing unprecedented circumstances into our professional and personal lives, I tried to turn to the bees for some inspiration to push forward. Here is what the bees can teach us about thriving in these difficult times:

Honey bees are communications experts. Bees all work together to ensure the hive is on the same page. Bees use pheromones and actions to communicate the hives' needs to propel the community forwards. The most fascinating form of communication is the foraging bees' ability to “dance” to describe an area and to give directions to other bees on where there is an abundant food source. During this pandemic, we all had to learn new ways to communicate better with our co-workers, whether it’s juggling how to create engaging virtual meetings or learning.

Bees do not multi-task. This may be controversial to some, but I believe we can learn a lot from the bees about their ability to prioritize tasks. Bees focus on their top priority job and only when they complete that – do they move onto their next task. Multitasking seems like a great way to get a lot done at once. Surprisingly, research has shown that our brains are not nearly as good at handling multiple tasks as we like to think they are. Some research has shown that multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%.

Lastly, bees also like to rest. Honey bees are known to be very hardworking and productive (hence the term “busy bee”). You may be surprised to know that honey bees love to recuperate after a hard day of work. In fact, they normally work for 1/3rd of the day, and for the remainder, they do absolutely nothing. It is important to take time away from our work and ensure that we re-energize and re-focus to ensure we are ready to work and be productive the next day. When our home is also our office, it can be hard to find that separation from work and relaxation, when at the office we end our day by saying goodbye to our employees and leaving the office. At home, you can try to plan an event for the end of the day that focuses on relaxation so that you disconnect from work.