Build a Resilient Team Using Behavioral & Bee Science: A Framework for Leaders
The world has shifted. As a leader, your work is to align, strategize, and reconnect. We use bee & behavioral science to help your hive hum.
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Course overview
Amidst rapid change, you need to build a resilient & harmonious hive to succeed
Throughout history, humans have used ritual to cope with change, and nature is always adapting. As both the big picture and our personal experiences shift, we draw from deep, universal wisdom to help leaders align, strategize, and reconnect. When faced with the challenge of disorganization, uncertainty, and unpredictability, we learn from anthropology & hive science to return our teams to harmony.
Who is this course for
01
You are a leader who is ready to transform your team's culture to cope with change-and prepare for the future with alignment and resilience
02
You're invested in real, meaningful team connection, that motivates your team, not just buzzwords and stiff consulting frameworks
03
You have a passion for and/or interest in the ways the behavioral and natural sciences can reframe your approach to leadership
A Six-Phase System to Get Your Team and Hive Humming
Assess your hive for growth areas
Open up your workplace and take stock of what's humming, and what's not. Our 6-field hive assessment will focus your leadership, and your work in our course
Your Strength in the Swarm
What is your role in the hive, and how do those strengths set the tone for a harmonious system? Our prioritization workshop helps you identify key traits that matter to your team's success.
The Dance of Co-Creation
Collaboration and innovation require both independent work & rituals of alignment. Our science-driven approach to strategizing responsive, nor reactive work relationships leads to harmony and productivity.
Designing Your System
Many organizational systems demand stiff approaches that break when unexpected events or company pivots arise. Our toolkit guides you to set cycles of discovery, mission, strategy, productivity and alignment. You'll help your team to focus and deliver proactively.
Strategizing by Season
Here, we look at future-focused strategies of resilience. Our approach to challenge-centered strategy will keep your hive responsive and productive even as new challenges come over time.
Scaling with Harmony
The best sign of a healthy hive is its ability to grow and spawn new, neighboring hives. Now that your current team is in harmony, we look to bee science to understand how systems grow, scale, and stay aligned.
What’s included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Ali Maaxa, Ph.D. & Chad Seegmiller in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
34 lessons • 6 projects
Week 1
- 📄
A short introduction from the instructors
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Taking stock of your team's health; Ali's Introduction
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Article on similarity between honey bee and human social life
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Two Videos on Assessing Hive Health
- ✍️
Your hive assessment: a worksheet (self-paced)
Submit by May 15 - 📄
A short introduction from the instructors
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Finding your Strength in the Swarm
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The Queen Bees Relationship with the Hive
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CiftonStrengths Domains
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Creating a Common Language - A Grad Students Take
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Taking stock of your leadership competencies
Submit by May 24
Part 1: Knowing your Hive (self-paced)
Open up your workplace and take stock of what's humming, and what's not. Our hive assessment will focus your leadership.
Part 2: Your Strength in the Swarm (self paced w/optional live session)
What is your role in the hive, and how do those strengths set the tone for a harmonious system?
Week 2
- 📄
A brief introduction from the instructors
- 📄
Using the lens of ritual for collaboration & alignment: Ali's Video Introduction
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Reading: Bee Castes and internal motivation to focused work
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Reading: How have bees evolved cooperation instincts?
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Reading: How DoYou Do?Assessing employees' behavioral instincts and strengths.
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Optional Reading: Cultural Swirl!
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Getting Intentional about Team Ritual
Submit by May 22 - 📄
Organizational & Service Design for your Beehive
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Designing your System
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Democratic Decision Making & Collective Intelligence
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Don't Ignore the Elephant in the Room - Model for Change
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Design Thinking Simplified
- ✍️
Organizational Design - Practice
Submit by May 3
Part 3: The Dance of Co-Creation (self-paced)
Our hive approach to understanding work relationships lead to harmony and productivity.
Part 4: Designing Your System
This toolkit helps your team to focus on their individual crafts while keeping a harmonious whole in sight.
Week 3
- 📄
A brief introduction from Chad & Ali
- 📄
Keeping your hive future-facing & resilient: Ali's Presentation
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Reading: Beekeeping from Warre
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Reading: Resilience Strategies for Teams
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Reading: Learning from Wild Bees and Tree Beekeeping
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Reading: Adaptability in the Workplace
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Roadmap your Team by Cycle/Season
Submit by May 24 - 📄
Optional Reading: Bee Science and Homeostasis
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A Brief Introduction from Your Instructors
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Scaling with Harmony
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Exploring the Hive's Decentralization
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Starting Simple, iterating often
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Coaching and Development
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Tapping into the collective intelligence | CoP
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Optional Reading | One size does not fit all
- ✍️
Scaling with Harmony Exercise
Submit by May 26
Part 5: Strategizing by Season
Here, we understand how to keep a hive responsive and resilient even as new challenges come over time.
Part 6: Scaling with Harmony
Now that your hive is in harmony, we look to bee science to understand how systems grow, scale, and stay aligned.
What students are saying
Meet your instructor
Ali Maaxa, Ph.D.
Ali Maaxa, Ph.D.
AWS AI leader, SaaS Incubation Strategist, HCI Coach, Anthropology Professor
Dr. Ali Maaxa is a professor of anthropology and human computer interaction, a pioneering humanist in global AI incubators, and Mellon, Peacock, and Wilgus fellow.
Chad Seegmiller
Chad Seegmiller
Organizational Strategist, Productivity Coach, Finance & Banking Leader
Chad Seegmiller is an organizational consultant who leverages the power of collective intelligence in creating sustainable work ecosystems.
Course schedule
4-6 hours per week
Wednesdays
10:00am - 11:00am PST
An optional hour-long call to talk about our materials, the bees, your org, and to connect with us and your course-mates
When you have time
We'll send a scheduling link
Reach out to schedule an included half-hour consultation with one of us to apply our learnings to your leadership needs
Weekly projects
4-6 hours per week
Our two-week compressed course offers 6 asynchronous lessons at 3 per week. You'll have readings, a short recorded talk, targeted worksheets to cement your strategy, and opportunities to connect with us for our weekly course calls and/or an included 1:1 with us
Learning is better with cohorts
Active hands-on learning
This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects
Interactive and project-based
You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams
Learn with a cohort of peers
Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you