Take-off location, lead leg, tail leg, stride length, arm action — these are all familiar terms to an Olympic hurdler.
They’re all a beautiful choreography of rhythm, position, speed and muscle memory.
Of course, no Olympic champion starts out with everything in sync. Muscle memory must evolve. Positioning must be taught. Speed must be developed. And rhythm, that’s a mental zone every champion enters when everything else syncs up.
Corporate team building can seem a lot like an insurmountable hurdle, but with the right mindset and approach, it can be a rewarding experience.
Your first hurdle in corporate team building may be knowing where and with whom you’re starting the race. Who are your weakest links? What makes them weak? How can you build on their strengths and lessen the impact of their flaws on the rest of the group?
How can you help them set goals to overcome some of these deficits in a supportive, non-threatening way? Remember that your acceptance of your teammates’ weaknesses may be one of your team’s greatest strengths.
Every team has cream: it rises to the top and outshines the others. Let them rise and shine without overshadowing their colleagues! Let their enthusiasm help set the tone for the team and the pace as well.
Likewise, show your gratitude for the slow-but-steady team player who’s always willing to bring up the rear without fuss or fanfare. Encourage them to boost the morale of the slow-goers so that everyone stays on task.
You’ll know it when it happens. When everything else and everyone else are in sync, a mystical rhythm develops. Every successful hurdler takes a precise number of steps before each hurdle—no more, no less. The same is true for a well-trained corporate team—with the right people in the right positions doing the right tasks, each benchmark is hit in a precise number of steps. You can feel it when it works and every member knows that he or she made an invaluable contribution.
The motley crew you’re facilitating is probably a mixed bag of personalities, egos, idiosyncrasies, skills, talents and quirks. Pulling them together may seem like a Herculean task, but with wisdom, strength and courage you can lead them to success in project after project and help them gel into a single unit with one vision.
Rob Jackson is a member of the National Speaker's Association and has served as President and Chairman on several Executive Leadership boards. In addition to being a Certified DiSC Trainer, Rob has logged hundreds of instructional classroom hours. He is the author of Campfire Leadership, which explores effective leadership from a personality perspective. As President of Magnovo Training Group, Rob's goal is to inspire significant positive change in communities and companies. For more information please visit magnovo.com.