On A Team Building Mission

And not just any team building coach mission, but the best in the world. Well, probably that’s not a good way of starting an article on team building. Especially when the event took place last month. So let me try again.

For a while now my second son has been giving me team building sessions to train on his behalf. He trains corporates on leadership. But I’m the playful one in the team, so your guess is as good as mine. I fit the trade.

Recently however, I got into a fight with my inner self. The battle within was based on this same team building. The internal confrontation was:

"Why the heck do I want, no, do I desire to keep this trade?" Share on X

You see, desire is nothing close to wishful thinking. It is something you want so badly that you can literally feel it in with your fingers. You see it behind shut eyelids. Smell it with your nostrils and taste its glory with your tongue. So much so that its presence in your mind leaves you smiling and your heart racing!

Do you feel me now?

So armed with a pen and notebook I detailed what I would do about this team building business. There were three main fights in my mind.

First: The ‘Why Do I Want To Be a Team Building Coach?’ Fight

This was the first and most painful of the three fights because I know I’m not the only team building coach in my city. There are over 20 different coaches. But I don’t want to be just any other team building coach. I want to be the best. The most outstanding. The top performing team building coach in the world. Not even my city!

I’m in my Season 2 of life despite most people’s belief in one life. Let’s not discuss Season 1 at the moment. But just so you know, I must succeed in this life. I must leave a legacy. And that begins now.

That legacy I desire is being featured in BBC and CNN as that Kenyan team building coach. And not when I’m gone, no. But while still alive and coaching top performers on working and succeeding as a team. No offense but I see no glory in speaking of my victory during my funeral. You may however. But I see no sense in it. And that’s not pride. That’s being me.

Second: The ‘How Do I Get There?’ Fight

Here I look at my values. These are, being truthful, honest, trustworthy, hardworking and above all creative. So before I utter a word, whether through my mouth or mind, it has to go through these 5 sieves.

Is it truthful?
Am I being honest about it?
Would I be considered trustworthy if this information leaked?
Does it portray high levels of being hard working?
And is it crazy creative?

Because that’s the way to maintain the My_Darling Brand and therefore the top team building coach in the world!

Third: The ‘How Do I Become The Most Outstanding Team Building Coach in The World?’ Fight

Add to that the assurance of top performance in the world. Not once. But as long as I live.

By the way, did you notice the value, hard working and creative?

Great! Because that quenches the furious fires. I’m certain that most team building coaches work hard. But I’m committed to adding gradual innovation to my research. The commitment to working hard in my research comes with pints of edits in what I learn. That’s where creativity enters the pot of activities.

Say my son assigns me a client to take through a team building session. Maybe for an afternoon. That’s 2 hours tops. This happened mid last week. So for starters I studied the client and noticed that I would have about 20 participants for the session. Sweet!

I instructed the team to stand in a circle with each person holding hands with the neighbours and facing inwards. This demonstrated their togetherness. The kind experienced when members join a scheme.

But with time every member desires an audience. An agreeable audience at that. And that often brings in disagreements. Lots of them. So I had them let go off their neighbours’ hands, each one cross their hands in front and then hold their neighbours’ hands again. This forced them to get closer to each other, literally, but with some level of discomfort in their upper arms. Wow unto those with big chests!

In the next step I instructed them to figure out how to return into their original ‘togetherness’ format. Without breaking the grip!

The idea here was to have them demonstrate their ‘making up’ without fighting any further. But unfortunately every time I conduct this activity, regardless of the team, their first instinct is to free themselves from the pain. So they turn their backs to each other and face outwards. Wrong move. This move puts them in hotter disagreements than before.

The idea here is to see how they would nominate two of their participants who stand next to each other to mediate the conflict. This is done through reversing into the crossed-hands step and having the two participants raise their hands such that the rest of the team walks under the raised hands outwards.

The move frees them from the painful crossed hands for starters. And also gets them standing on the opposite side of each other. The person initially on the right, stands on the left. This demonstrates conflict resolution through participants understanding each others’ viewpoints. And that’s how growth of the team happens!

In Conclusion

My desire to scoop the team building trophy feels so close. Owning the stage following. I feel the cameras on my face. The microphone in my hands. And my deep voice flowing through it. Red polo shirt. Black shorts. Luminous green socks with flowers. And a black pair of Umoja shoes on. Oh, I forgot to mention my clean shaven head. I smile.

This is why I keep up with the monthly leadership and communication training. To cement my victory on why I want to become a team building coach. And how I will maintain the most outstanding team building coach in the world position for as long as I live. The golden performance. Not once, but every week in my team building sessions.