A long time ago, yours truly got fired for holding BTL team practices the owners believed were nothing but bitch sessions. This team was not fishing for truth but sure had me fooled, at least for awhile.
Today, during practice seven with a team destined for some slice of heaven, we took this topic head on. I asked them to write what they believed was the diff between a bitch sesh and a BTL team practice. So, they wrote away. After a few minutes we heard from more than a few. They mostly got the diff, and a big diff it is. Here’s the truth. Slow down, put down your swipe device distraction/addiction, and tune in. This could be HUGE.
A bitch session is a fight to prove a point. I’m right, you know, and you’re wrong. A bitch session is a CYA (cover your ASS) kinda affair. Unproductive. Passive aggressive. Personal agendas prevail.
A BTL team practice is a fight to improve performance. We don’t care who’s right. We come together to find the highway regardless whose idea carries the day. BTL team practice surfaces conflict so we can deal with the bullshit we’ve been burying and get better; bitter, not so much. BTL team practice produces a CCC (come clean culture). Nobody cares who gets the credit, we want the team to get better. This baby is performance aggressive.
BTL team practice is not another form of a bitch sesh. BTL team practice is a fight to improve performance, not prove a point. Today, The Superior Group kicked some ASS, namely their own. Their leader modeled the way. I freakin’ love this team and couldn’t be happier that they are the last client I’ll ever take on. Something tells me I’ve been blessed to save the best for last, you know.
Stop wishing for something better, leader. Tell the team hard truth. Believe they can take it. Assume less. Challenge out of belief. Fight to improve performance, not prove a point. You’ll get exactly the team you deserve. Are you Becoming BTL or being a b^&%$? Are you building a CYA culture or one that’s CCC? You choose. Your choices have consequences.
Live hard. Love harder…
BUILT TO LEAD 
So good, Chet! Thank you for modeling the way. Van fights are for elite teams that want and are ready for the challenge. This is life-giving for me. Dream and Do. It requires full commitment and dedication to hard work.
For the few.
For the few, namely Y.O.U…
This is good. Makes me think of this great quote from Marcus Aurelius.
“If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.”
Thanks, Fred. Love a little MA on a Thursday night…