I just finished a 3.5 day course in the leadership of high performance teams which pretty much blew my mind. It was a great combination of six core principles learned in the classroom and realized outside. The program was taught by Performance Unlimited and Activ8 but the class had the opportunity to participate in every aspect from speaking in the classroom to harnessing up team mates and trusting that they had done it correctly in their turn and would hold the rope when you jumped off the top of a 30 foot pole. Climbing atop high stuff wasn’t about conquering your fear so much as it was about trusting your new skills, your peers and embracing this basic prospective: “You’re going to fall no matter what so you might as well fall going for it.”
The amazing part was that through learning in the classroom (principles we could all take back to the office to benefit the teams we lead) our group of strangers from all over the country geled into a solid team capable of meeting every challenge. In fact, we even got this entire motley crew over a 14 foot wall using no tools or assistance of any kind. With no leader and no instructions we succeeded because we totally believed we could and each of us dedicated every ounce of ourselves to making it happen. That’s not what typically happens in an office setting… I think Seth Godin would be proud.
Check out the Performance Unlimited website (a BrainstormOverload design) to learn more and watch for the next session. Or drop us a line – we’d be happy to chat about the experience.