Loving our series, Toto…
I don’t know if Yogi Berra said it but it’s true… “You can’t give away what YOU can’t give away”…
This is the first belief we have about why we practice. Few leaders have been part of a team that is truly ONE…they haven’t experienced what they’re trying to build so they settle for a culture that promotes just getting along. Their people learn to play it safe, comply with company rules and follow the herd. These leaders mistake lack of open conflict with oneness.
At BUILT TO LEAD we have been part of magic teams with an openness of ideas & conflict that’s uncomfortable for those not accustomed. Mustangs hit each other hard and often, because they are free to do so AND because they have learned they can’t keep up with each other if they don’t. This happens all the time within our own BUILT TO LEAD band:
Just this week Brownie had invited me to engage with one of his clients as a second buider — but the HR folks had gotten involved and were trying to restructure our normal monthly retainer into a per session fee. I didn’t get the words out of my mouth before Brownie hit me hard and fast. “Hey we can’t do that. We don’t work that way because that doesn’t WORK. We aren’t counselors, we’re builders and you need to tell them our way IS the highway — it WORKS.” Thank you, Brownie.
Wednesday I was helping Uncle Pete get ready for his first practice with a new team …for them it will be a “taste test” of BUILT TO LEAD — it could be a huge client and I could sense he was overpreparing way too much stuff. So I hit him hard — “trust the framework… BE the framework.” The first day of practice is only about one thing — it’s introducing what practice is for, why most teams don’t practice, and showing them how to practice by teaching what they thought they learned in kindergarten but couldn’t about reading & writing and speaking & listening to each other.
Which leads to our second belief — just practicing isn’t enough. Golfers can hit endless buckets of balls only to further groove the same bad swing they had on the course. Like Ted Williams said, “practice doesn’t make perfect, PERFECT practice makes perfect.” At BUILT TO LEAD we are mastering the art of perfect practice to AWAKEN, CHALLENGE & TRANSFORM teams of mules into mustangs….running slowly & cautiously at first, then faster and harder together, ultimately becoming ONE.
Which leads to our third belief. BUILT TO LEAD frees leaders to practice AS participants. It’s a HUGE benefit having someone facilitate practice who KNOWS the leader and the team but is not PART of it. Business leaders are not a football coach on the sidelines — they are part of their TEAM.
Together, we improve… through PRACTICE, we become ONE.
BUILT TO LEAD 