C'mon Ricky! You can do it!
Back from Christmastime and New Years with family. Then back from Barcelona for a global (36 countries represented), Life Cycles program and two more Life Cycles in Cincinnati Ohio and Half Moon Bay California...I'm back to blogging.
Usually at all of our philanthropic team-building programs - Life Cycles (build-a-bike), Playhouse Challenge, and Helping Hands - the session begins with the 'owner of the meeting' (our client partners VIP) introducing us to the group. What happens next is always interesting.
Does the crowd applaud robustly, or perhaps more like a polite 'golf clap' or sit in silence with mouths agape (not too unlike a trout in a stream)? It is always different and always a mystery. What has stemmed from it all is an observation about support.
Lately, once on stage I ask the group; "When do you support someone? Before they do a good job, while they are doing a good job, or after they do a good job?" Inevitably the answers are diverse.
So then I introduce myself to a person in the front row. Most recently in Half Moon Bay it was Rick. I invite the group to imagine if Rick was about 7 months old, learning to walk, chubby and unstable legs, hand on the coffee table and me (Uncle Todd) 8' away on the couch. Then I ask the group if I would be leaning back on the couch, arms crossed, saying to Rick - "show me what you got" OR be on the edge of my seat, arms open and extended his way, big smile with a voice of encouragement saying "c'mon Ricky! You can do it! I'll meet you half way etc. etc." I ask the group - "Which would I do?"
Obviously they say the latter. And I say "why?" Answers come back.... so he can succeed, to encourage him, so he has a positive experience, etc. So I ask them again why do I want that? Eventually someone says, "because I care about him and/or love him" BINGO!
I want him to do well because I have an emotional connection to Ricky and his goal. That's one of the things we do at Odyssey. We reconnect people to that often buried under busyness, emotional connection of what they do and why they do it.
Leadership, collaboration, effective communication, teams etc., is always better if I'm connected to the why of my work, and the people around me know I'm FOR them. C'mon Ricky! You can do it!
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