It comes down to GRIT

Up until last week I thought of grit as the substance that trucks spread on the roads here in the UK during icy conditions. Then I received Dan Pink's infrequent newsletter and discovered the following.

Quote:
"By now you've probably heard the term. It’s one of the biggest ideas in social science in the last decade — the brainchild of Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant, and founder and co-director of Character Lab. 


This week Angela is publishing a book on the topic titled — you got it — Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Buy it at Amazon, BN.com, or IndieBound). I had a chance to read the manuscript awhile back — and it’s one of the smartest, most compelling non-fiction books I’ve read in years. Mark my words: People are going to be reading and talking about this book for a long, long time."

So I had do the Grit Scale and discovered I am 4.13 out of 5 and grittier than 80% of the US population?? 

Then I found and watched a TED talk and based on my life experience,I agreed with the research. It certainly explains why a lot of high potential graduate recruits just don't make the grade. The challenge then, is how to develop grit in children and in adults??? 

Perhaps I should buy the book

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance :-)

Set up your support network

I've just heard something on the radio and don't want to lose it as I think it's so good. In all of our coaching we encourage people to set up their support networks, so that they never have to struggle alone with their problems and issues. You know the old saying a problem shared is a problem halved.

Well this graphic summarised what I heard.

Team Coach model - visualising what you want

I realise it's the way I am wired but I know if I can picture what I want to develop, then I can create a training programme to deliver that outcome. I'm currently working on a Team Coach programme and have created this model.

This TED talk highlights the value of creating a visual image of what you want to achieve.

• See it
• Believe in it
• Act on it

Team Coach - learning graphic facilitation

I'm busy developing a Team Coach - growing high performing teams programme and one of the key skills they will learn is the ability to run highly interactive workshops. In this crazy digital world that we live in, there is a compelling need to get people away from their screens and reconnecting with paper, pens and real live people!!! 

Participants will, regardless of their ability to draw, learn how to use graphic facilitation techniques. They will learn how to get rid of the stodgy boardroom meeting format and create a magical, colourful and fun environment, where great ideas blossom and grow. 

I was very lucky to have been taught graphic facilitation by the master David Sibbet on his first visit to the UK and have continued to use the techniques for over 15 years. To say it works is an understatement as it ROCKS!!! When you use these techniques with the high performing team programme you actually witness teams transform from plodders to vibrant, exciting performers.

To give you a better idea of the visual meeting approach of High Performing Teams, please watch this short David Sibbet video.

Less elegant than the master, but done with love and passion and with an exciting outcome.

How did Leicester City win the Premier League?

I'm not a football fan but you couldn't avoid the success of this little club against against the giants of the Premier League.

How did they do it????

Leicester City have completed one of the most remarkable stories in the history of English football by winning the Premier League title. Written off as relegation candidates at the start of the season, when the bookmakers made Leicester 5,000-1 outsiders to be crowned champions, they secured the first top-flight title in the club’s history after Tottenham were unable to beat Chelsea on Monday night. 

I went on to Google to see if I could get answers and discovered the following.

• Employing Italian Ranieri a charming, extremely passionate and knowledgeable manager
• The blessing of a Thai monk may seem a bit quirky but appeals to the emotions 
• Great talent scouting, uncovering rough diamonds that could be developed to meet their full potential
• Seeing the talent in those that had been rejected by the big guns and giving them a chance to succeed (at last someone belive in me!)
• Getting tactics right and winning early in the season
• Ranieri has that warm, infectious personality and brought humour and light to Leicester, privately as well as publicly, occasionally mixing up his words with comical consequences and, in true Ranieri fashion 
• Success brought greater team spirit and determination, as well as the individual talent, was shining through and, in many people’s eyes, inspiring Ranieri every bit as much as his players

The more I read, the more I picked up on happiness, fun and laughter, warmth and emotion. Great team work, belief in one another, caring and nurturing. It aligned very much with what I have witnessed working with business teams where success comes from 'feelings and emotions'. Where the manager, leader or coach has a high level of emotional intelligence and can understand the emotions of their people and excite them about a better future. 

Our High Performing Team programme is very much about getting teams to develop this emotional bond and it can be summed up by the following image.

Well done Leicester!