Reindeer with antler in winter must be a female – Decode the HR message from ‘exceptions’

Know the ‘exceptions’ of people in the right perspective and never limit such understanding and reduce them as a mere quotable quote is the management message reindeer conveys to the corporate world.

Usually, all antelopes develop antlers during the breeding season and once the season is over, the antler would fall. This is the general feature/rule seem to all antelopes except reindeer. The interesting point is that it is often assumed that whenever an antelope is seen with antler we can reasonably conclude it to be a male. In the case of reindeer, the pregnant female reindeer is known to retain the antler during winter whereas in male reindeer the antler would shed off once the rut period is over.

There may be several biological or evolutionary postulates we can offer to explain why female reindeer retain antler during the entire breeding season. But the larger point is that if someone happens to see a reindeer with antler especially during winter, in all probability, it could be a female reindeer and unlikely it would be a male reindeer.

The antler may offer additional protection to the pregnant reindeer during winter to ensure territory, food etc., as she needs such exceptional advantage to protect the young one in the womb and hence the antler is retained. Whereas such requirement is not there for the male and hence they shed the antler once the rut period is over. Producing antler is certainly a costly affair and so is retaining them beyond the necessity.

The management message to be learned from the above exceptions of female reindeer is two-fold. The first management message is that one should use ‘exceptions’ to predict the possibility and rarity than becoming a victim of some well-established norms to make quick conclusions. When a reindeer with antler is seen during winter, instead of one jumps into any form of conclusions must reasonably assume that it could be a pregnant female reindeer and not male. Male antelopes are the one often known to have antler.

The other management message is that exception of antler retention in pregnant female reindeer during winter may be for defense. Therefore any unreasonable and uncharitable extrapolation of such exceptions for own use/benefit will only cause disappointment if such simulation is experimented in corporate.

In the corporate world, often conclusions are made out of some exceptional qualities of people. The conclusions often breach all levels of reasonable expectations. Further, the corporate leaders also would tend to extrapolate such exceptions of people for the benefit of the organization. Whether all such exceptions are stable or seasonal the corporate leaders often ignore or fail to understand. As a result, confusion and conflicts become the counter products of all conclusions and extrapolations. The corporate leaders also would engage in the blame game and most of them fail to recognize the greater truth that it was the leaders who failed to interpret the ‘exceptions’ of people in right way that has caused the entire confusion.

Look at the beauty of nature. Nature has given exception to the pregnant female reindeer to retain its antler during entire breeding season whereas such uniqueness is not there for the male reindeer.

The finest management message is that every data around us must be seen, understood, interpreted and extrapolated in totality and not in mosaic fashion. Failing which even the so-called exceptional people also may fail to meet even the basic expectations of the corporate is the management message reindeers convey.

Dr S Ranganathan