Throwing Yourself Over the Line for Team Building
Have you ever thrown yourself over the line at work?
By that I mean taking real emotional, personal risks with people who respect you professionally. Showing sides of yourself that you tend to keep under wraps.
It may sound scary, but I can tell you first hand that it can work MAGIC on your team.
Keith and I work every day to help individuals "go there," so that teams can quickly build an environment of trust and commitment that enhances their ability to work through business problems and achieve goals. In this work, I've witnessed exceptional moments where leaders have shared their most defining moments, devastating losses, and crippling fears. These moments, often accompanied by tears and respectful silence at the dinner table, transform the team, almost instantaneously.
This is the moment when that person has taken a risk, and has thrown him or herself over the line. And this is the moment where everyone in the room commits to that person’s success.
I always wondered, could I cross the line myself? I found out recently when as part of my training to become a coach I was asked to - don't laugh - try a "Lara Croft" personality on for size in front of a room full of 25 people. For this role-playing exercise, I was to be big, bold, and physical - all things I'm normally not. It required real vulnerability to "go there."
After taking this risk, I felt so much bigger and more powerful for it. Issues I had been dealing with came into perspective and became so much easier to address. I learned that in “throwing myself” across this imaginary line, I was suddenly bigger and bolder than my problems.
Just Remember:
- “Throwing yourself across the line” can help you get out of a rut or “up your game”; it's also a way to gain trust of those who watch you take the risk.
- Environment matters – make sure you are in a place where you can take a risk and you can land safely no matter what happens.
I’d love to hear your stories of throwing yourself over the line – what did you learn?
Meghna heads up the High Impact Teams consulting practice at Ferrazzi Greenlight with Keith. She is based in New York City. If you have questions or want to increase your team's impact, contact her at mmajmudar at ferrazzigreenlight dot com.
Send a trackback!
4 Responses so far | Have Your Say!
Leave a Reply
-
Keith Ferrazzi is an expert on relationship development, a world-renowned speaker and the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back.-
Relationship Masters Academy
-
Photos (view gallery)
Keith,
Great article, I have been experimenting with this for years and have seen it go over very well for myself as well as being a very empowering experience for those around me. On the other side of that is that I have also landed flat on my face for trying to throw myself over the line.
I used to work for Robert Kiyosaki and being an influential speaker himself and one of the most well known and successful people I have ever worked for I thought I couldn't possibly have a better opportunity to throw myself over the line and show what I can do. I can say that on some level I felt while I had gained quite a bit of respect with Robert himself and others within the company, many of my co-workers did not want someone to be more respected or successful than themselves within the company so I quickly was just butting heads everywhere I turned and eventually "let go".
I feel that this method works very well if you are in a bit of a leadership role already, it can take it to whole new levels. When one is in more of a competitive role and still trying to gain some form of leadership it would need to be used very carefully focusing on the right audience that would respect you for it and not see you as a threat.
P.S. "Who's Got Your Back" is one of my all time favorite personal development books and I have enjoyed following your tweets since finding you on Twitter, thank you for these and keep up the good work!
Stephen R. Blair
Great article, Meghna, thank you!
I loved this letter, so I've decided to throw myself over the line by saying that being @debraulrich, tied @recoveryrelief to recoveryrelief.org, fb as debraulrich & recovery relief foundation, myspace, youtube, su, amazon, debraulrich.webs.com, flickr, google, yahoo, etc., and multiple engines like safari & firefox, etc, & on mobile as well, makes it necessary, as a 'computer illiterate', for me 2ask u for help... understanding, & creating a way in which u can make it so I can help me help myself (for Recovery Relief, & it's future) be able to figure out how 2financially & economically build a strategic model that has the capacity 2benefit & help u get what you need for yourself, ur service and/or product for you and all other's benefit as well. Any 'ideas' as to what can be done to accomplish this 'mission'? I'll really appreciate any insights u may have! Thank you 4your help in this matter!
We've developed a web based team building tool that's great for teams on a limited budget and virtual teams. Just Google team building rescue to find it.
d