March 2008 Archives

On Saturday I rode my bike down to the Farmer's Market! It was such a great feeling to ride my bike; it had been since summer of 2007! I had to take my Diamondback Bicycle down from the side of the wall in the garage, where it had been hibernating since last August. Dust off some cobwebs, pump up the tires, and take it for a test run before I headed out. Then I had to look for the key that went to my bike lock and can you believe it? I actually found it within seconds, it was hanging with all the keys, right where it was suppose to be. I filled up my water bottle, and set out! Chico is a great place to ride bikes, I live on the far north side of town, but it only took me 20 minutes to get downtown. I rode through my neighborhood, where I ran into my sister-in-law and nephew, stopped and said hi, then continued riding my bike. I rode through some orchards that were in bloom and then through the avenues of Chico! Now that brought back some memories! Then I meet my great friend Nicole on the corner of 5th and the Esplanade. We actually have matching bikes, can you believe it?! If you knew us you would believe it! Then we rode down to the market, locked up our bikes side by side and cruised around town. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

I am a new mom; well I guess I have been a mom for almost one year, it's hard to believe. My son will have his first birthday in April. I can't believe how fast it has gone by...it seems like just yesterday that I was a little girl and my dad was teaching me how to ride a bike! It will be awhile before my little boy will be riding a bike, but I know that it will come fast. Everyone tells me to enjoy him while he is little, because in a blink of an eye he will be on his way to college. The cycles of life that we go through, I am so excited to watch my little boy grow up, he has already changed so much in the first year of life. Now he is walking and curious about everything! Soon I will be teaching him how to ride his first bike...I think everyone remembers their first bike; mine was purple and it had a banana seat with a rainbow and a unicorn. I loved that bike, it was great because you could have your friend sit on the seat with you and ride doubles. What a great experience for a child, to have their very own special bike. It gives them a sense of freedom, to ride with the wind in their hair...

As Sr. Event Manager for Odyssey I have the pleasure of being on the inside track and planning the Life Cycle's Programs, as well as other programs within the company. I find it hard to believe sometimes that it is a job. I never thought a job would give me to opportunity to change children's lives, thousands of children's lives.

One of my most memorable "life changing" experiences took place last year. We were doing a roll out with a large company. It involved planning programs that were going on simultaneously, stretching from California all the way to Florida. There is no describing the hours and hours of work that went into planning these programs. On the last day in Chicago, exhausted and more emotional then ever, my life changed.

These children were from Southside Chicago. If you have never heard of Southside, it is not surprising. They see things everyday that most people never experience. They come from single parent families, if they have a parent at all. Discipline is not a part of most of their lives.

There was one particular teenage girl that stood out that day. She had attitude. The way that she treated one of the Boys and Girls club directors was inappropriate. Oddly, I was nervous to tell this 11 year old girl that she was out of line. By reprimanding her it made her respect me. She went on to explain how she did not like this director and that she did not have to listen to her. After going back and forth she agreed that she would just not speak to her.

I watched this child's attitude change right in front of my eyes. The moment the doors opened and she realized she was getting a bike, not just a bike but an opportunity, an experience, a moment to feel special, my life changed. It made truly realize how lucky I am and how to be better with the children I work with. She came up to me with tears in her eyes and gave me this immense hug. She apologized to me, the exchange that we had has pushed me to work so hard for these kids. It is amazing what a bike can do.

Change all your negative thinking about the people who do not fit in. These people on the edges are just that. They are the most important part of our schools and your business, our communities and the world. They are like the edge pieces of a great puzzle. Take time now to think about who is on the edge in your life. Homeless people, bullies, nerds, your crazy uncle and so on. It is our job as leadership teachers and leaders in business to find them and fit them in first. Our reflex is to avoid them and label them as trouble makers or unmotivated dead wood. Think about it. When you are putting a puzzle together, you don't go right for the middle. The easy part that holds the key image of the picture. No. You look for the edge pieces. The apparently unimportant pieces when the picture is together. You know the people who do not fit in at work or at school. Don't avoid them. Search them out. Look for the corner pieces. The ones that appear to cause the most trouble or have almost nothing in common with the rest of the work team. These are the most vital points of your puzzle. I know they are not as much fun as the middle and when it is all together they don't get the focus or the praise. But, they hold it together. You know it and I know it. So make a list and get started. In a subtle way let them know how valuable they are. No matter how small or how big your puzzle is you will always have edges and corners. Even in the smallest family or work team. The middle will fall together as a result. Give them the value they deserve. You can do it!

Look around your business or school today. You can see the diverse environment our kids are growing up in. Many people are cast out and find themselves lost in a feeling of misfit hopelessness. Kind of like the toys on the classic Rudolph the red nose rain deer movie. Only this time they are real lives. They are lives as important and with as much potential as yours and mine. Sons and daughters, feeling lost and without hope and without a place in the picture. After school they grow up and take this same hopelessness into the workplace. What should leaders do about this reality?

So often we see teams working on the plays and not the other stuff. They practice play after play before the players are fitting together. Coming up with more and more complex systems and processes and thinking that success is automatic if they can just come up with the next greatest formation. Heart. The pulse of the team is the key. You cannot win if you have no heart of a team and that must be discovered buy each person connecting to the purpose. They can never forget to focus on the reason they are together. The patiently prepare each person for their role and put the right kind of people in the right position. Teamwork or die. All football players must see their role as MVP material and visa versa. They all matter and they all win together or loose together. That is the fact.

This morning I had to get up before the sun had to. It wasn't fair. But I wanted to hear a friend of mine who was a keynote at an event before I went to work, so I didn't really have an option not to get up. Needless to say I got up out of my comfy bed and started my routine 2 hours earlier than normal. I even had time to grab a latte on my way to the meeting. When I arrived, I was greeted by many dear friends and mentors that speak to my heart and encourage me greatly. Gil did a phenomenal job speaking and I am so glad that I went. I have not regretted waking up so early one moment today.

Sometimes in life the things that don't seem fair end up being the most rewarding. Sometimes in life the things that are the least comfortable and the most out of our realm of normal are the most memorable. This morning it was. The journey begins...

Solutions to the teamwork challenges in Chapter 1 are tough to come by. We at Odyssey know a few things about taking the worst teams and making them the best. To keep it as simple as possible. First step, remind them why they have been put together. Remind them all the time! In as many ways as you can. Make the team objective personal to each of them and show them how the overall goal will benefit each of them. Do you think a professional football coach doesn't remind his team about a little goal called the Super Bowl. They do. Everyday, in as many ways as they can. They then remind them of the few key behaviors that will get them there. They practice those behaviors and never stray. They then prepare each player for the role they will play in the overall goal. Blocker, defense and quarterback. The key is putting the right people in the right positions. Match the skills and interests of each and celebrate all the roles as equal. The final step, the easy step is to learn a few plays. Each team can run the same plays as every other team in the league. The difference is the other stuff. What is missing from the success of your team is probably not in the play you are running but in the commitment, the heart, of each player on the field.

At the heart of every business are people. Lots of them! Working as a team. Leading teams, making teams, restructuring old teams and shifting teams around. We all want to be the MVP of the team we are a part of. Are you one of the many that have found yourself looking across a conference room table at a bunch of your "team mates" waiting to figure out who is the real leader, who will get drunk on the first business trip and who will break the ice with the most inappropriate comment. The kind of comment that would make human resources give up hope. A slow and painful game of survivor unfolds as clicks are formed and alliances are created and tested. Some find themselves on the outside looking in. Some are right back in High School running for class clown or class president. Heaven forbid times get tough and the outcasts will be cast out and the "in" group will circle the wagons and protect each other. Never mind the real work that should be getting done. The politics and positioning take center stage and surviving becomes the number one goal. This situation is real and common. It will never work in football and it will never work on the long term for any company. Teamwork how do we navigate the traps and challenges? Seek and you will find the answers in your own motivations and personal faults. The

The mistake of many companies is to stiffly personal ownership thinking. To hope that people will fall in line with the rest of the prisoners and drive themselves into a level of contribution and performance that would convince them never to leave the comfort, mediocrity and security or the big company. Leaving it to a few high performers to provide for the many. This will not work long term for either party. The heart of teamwork comes down to individual work in alignment and in sync with others and with passion and accountability. The way only a true owner works. Own your company called you and bring as much value as possible to your one and only client, big company "X".

Wake up tomorrow and go to work for yourself. You are the sole proprietor of your one person company. You have the freedom to move your service to any industry and any company. You take your resources, skills and assets with you. You get 100% of the profit. What you have "become" is the "X" factor that will make you a success or drive you into bankruptcy. You can seek out companies with missions that are in line with your personal little company mission statement and use the foundations of these organizations, not to prop you up, but to propel you and your one person business to the top of your own little industry. In turn you will bring the most value possible to the company you partner with. Eventually becoming an irreplaceable supplier of your one of a kind service for that company. Today you own it. Act like you do.

If you read my previous blog about ownership and who you work for, you might be feeling a little defensive or uncomfortable, good for you. You are learning something and realizing that you have more to offer. You have quietly been waiting. At least one to ninety nine percent of you is now crying out for you to take control of your life and stop playing the "I just work here" game. Powerful teams are built with owners. The kind of people that see work as personal and believe they are an integral part of everything. If each person in Home Depot realized that they work for themselves. That every time they help a customer, or don't help a customer it is a reflection on them personally. Home Depot would put Lowes out of business in a few months. If each person is any organization felt a deep sense of pride and connection to their work and how that "job" was an extension of their purpose. Their role is an extension of their place in the universe and their unique opportunity to bring some value to the world. In turn they would receive recognition, satisfaction and yes a paycheck. Their life would be better and the bottom line would reflect that vision.

I ask this question to groups around the globe and I usually get a similar response. Five to 10 percent of the room slowly raises their hand as if they have the last winning ticket in a church fund raiser. In my mind they should not feel guilty for working in a big company and possessing that "if it is to be it is up to me" kind of spirit. Why are people in fear to proudly say they work for themselves when working for another company? Do they think teamwork is at stake or that they will be labeled as selfish. I'm not talking about running a small business or having "Owner" at the end of you your business card, but real ownership. The next generation has missed a beat in the tough work, make it or break it, school of hard knocks our parents and grandparents grew up in. They think that it is up to other people to make their situation better or to give them some kind of mission in life. To wake them up early and ask them to stay late to accomplish their dreams. They think that if they had another promotion or another raise they would increase their level of performance as a result. Continually playing "You go First" with their manager to make the first move to recognize them. They would follow with an proportionate level of commitment. If you are waiting to be an Owner to work like an owner you are missing out on your own growth and security.

Everytime I take off in my Cirrus SR20 I feel like I am about to be lifted by the virtues of humanity. I can't help but think of how many innovations came from so many people dreaming of so many possibilities to make it safer, faster, stronger, quieter. And how I enjoy these things is beyond words.

How many unfortunate, unplanned 'landings' have inspired brilliant innovations allowing the profound dream of flight to prosper. That little cuff on the wing, the ballistic parachute that explodes out the back of my plane with the pull of a handle if all things start pointing 'down' without my approval . There is a sense of teamwork that transcends generations, companies, and countries. Human beings are such a powerful team. We get it right so much of the time that we forget how incredible we work together for the things that lift us up!

It is easy to forget about this when something doesn't go as planned. For some reason, I end up losing the greater context and become a victim in the micro moment of misfortune losing sight of all that is fortunate on the greater clock in the sky. Things happen in airplanes all the time and pilots demonstrate their virtues of humanity through their application of knowledge on to the technology that is the expression of someone else's knowledge. We figure stuff out. That's what we all do.

Next time you take a trip across the country at 40,000 feet going 500 miles per hour after complaining about your 30 minute delay you might want to challenge the context of your view to include the miracle of our ability to rise above. I hope you can join me at that moment celebrating on the wings of humanity.

Interestingly, at the age of 43, I've been having some serious issues with insomnia. All my life, I've never had a problem sleeping! The old adage, "you don't know what you're missing until it's gone", definitely applies here! However, I'm doing everything in my power to use this time (anywhere from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.) somewhat productively. The majority of the time, I think about work. Now you might think that's a negative or stressful thing. It's not. For the past seven years, the best thing that has happened to me in my entire life (outside of being in my amazing family) has been the decision to become a part of Odyssey Teams, Inc.. The company has grown three-fold over the years and we have some incredible programs to offer the world (if I do say so myself). We offer everything from our Life Cycles Program (a bike building / teambuilding experience), our Playhouse Project, the Helping Hands Program to traditional ropes courses. I seriously pinch myself everyday and am so thankful that I love getting up in the morning to go to the office! Outside of the fulfilling, rewarding work we do, I have the pleasure of spending my hours with my fabulous colleagues. If you personally know any of these people, you know exactly what I'm talking about! You don't find this kind of quality just anywhere. So...when I'm awake all those hours when the streets are quiet, the hustle and bustle of the day is over and everyone is asleep, I'm reflecting on this team of people. They have touched my life, made me a happier person and I feel thankful that I get to work alongside them everyday of my life!

Isn't it a terrible feeling to let someone down? I think this is one of the hardest emotions to deal with (especially if you're a Type A personality such as myself). Having someone you love and respect be disappointed in you is one of worst emotions and I strive SO hard to never let it happen. But then...being human steps into the fold. I try to tell myself that "everyone does it from time to time", that "my intentions were good", "I didn't mean to have that happen" or possibly make some excuse as to why things didn't go according to the original plan. I woke up today not realizing that my day would unfold and a glaring "let down" would make itself known. It was a terrible moment. I saw it coming from the second I heard, "can we spend just 5 minutes on the phone" discussing this project. I knew. The sinking feeling swept over me and my gut fell into my Uggs! This stinks! I am always on top of my game and this situation came back to bite me in the rear end unexpectedly! OK...time to get my mind spinning on WHY the project didn't happen and HOW to fix it immediately to dissolve the pit in my stomach and make things better with the person I let down. I apologized immediately and took responsibility for my shortcomings with regard to managing this project and not providing my own personal input. I went for a long walk in the park to clear my mind and reviewed that the "Type A" can make mistakes in life too! It's OK. One mistake doesn't outweigh the thousands of things we do right each day. There are two little words that can make everything better if they are said with genuineness...I'm sorry. It's amazing how these words can heal anger, hurt or disappointment in an instant. After my heartfelt apology, I got into action and called in the cohorts to get the job done! We're already on our way (in a couple short hours) of meeting our initial goal. Man...it's much better to face a difficult project than it is to face disappointing someone you love!