Yesterday’s practice we learned the power of playing games, the power of being clear, concise, and direct (always with respect), the power of an “epic fail” perspective that laughs in adversity, and the power of “role ” playing whatever it is that we want to master.
Yesterday’s practice put a team out of their comfort zone. Yesterday’s practice challenged the CEO and frustrated him that something he thought he had said a thousand times wasn’t being played out consistently. Remember, this is known as the curse of knowledge. CEO’s suffer from this big time. It goes like this…
Once you know something, you can’t remember what it was like NOT to know it. This is exactly why most leaders think the vision is clear and the team has no clue. Seen it a thousand times and will see it a thousand more, but not from this guy. This leader is different…
He got up in front of his team and modeled the way. He role played being one of them, in front of them which was a risky maneuver that few leaders embrace. He showed them exactly what he wanted from them. He hit it out of the park and you could see the team “get it.” AND, you could see the mutual respect grow even more. Freakin’ MAGIC.
He ended the practice by telling his team the truth about his frustration with them and how, within a matter of minutes, he had turned it toward himself. This is always acutely painful until it becomes a habit. He signed up for a couple new productive actions to his May PoP (Playbook of Productive Action) and by the end of the night, he had already sent them to me.
BTL leaders model the way, embrace pain and suffering, and embody truth in LOVE.
Chad, you are becoming BTL and so is your team. Yea, BABY…
BUILT TO LEAD 
I got to shadow this practice and talk with the head of the system afterwards.
He wondered if he talked to much during practice and wanted my perspective as an outsider.
Here’s what I told him —
As the leader, you are NOT talking too much when you model with humility and courage what YOU are learning. ESPECIALLY including YOUR failures and realizations.
Remember, people “stick it to the man” but people stick WITH the human.
I saw commitment go up. Clarity go up. And the desire to come back together and do it again go up.
Which doesn’t leave me wondering about what will happen to their PERFORMANCE between now and the next practice —
The other AND we talked about is the benefit of learning to ask “say, will you play back what you just heard?” Whether your tendency is to talk at the speed of light or in abstact concepts that make perfect sense to you, we all have a translator in our heads that speaks and hears in our own language. To become a MASTER CONNECTOR, your confidence that you’ve really communicated will go way up as you are able to hear someone play back to you the message they received equal to the one you intended to send.
Thanks Toto & Chad. It’s fun watching you build together.