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Meet Paul
Paul is an expert at showing corporate teams how to be more unified and more collaborative. His proven team building program is guaranteed to bust through the silos as he shows your team how to be as unified as the players in a great orchestra.
A-list corporations have been using Paul’s team building program for almost two decades, his audiences include Microsoft, RBC, Goodyear, ING, Heineken, FedEx, PwC and P&G.
Why being supportive is the best thing ever
The other day I was at the final game of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League playoff season, known as the Clarkson Cup.
It was kind of a big deal. The Premier of Ontario was there as was the Mayor of the city, and TSN was there to put the game on TV.
The stands were packed full of grown-up supporters like myself as well as hundreds of little girl hockey players (like my daughter) and other young women who have a passion for the sport and were there to support their heroes.
It was a great game filled with athleticism and fantastic end-to-end action, but there is one thing about that day that will stay with me for years. And it happened even before the puck dropped.
There was a young girl (sorry, I didn’t get her name) who came out on the carpeted ice to sing the Canadian National Anthem. She was maybe 10 or 12. How brave, I thought.
As the crowd hushed and the first nervous notes came out of her, it was obvious that the largeness of the moment was on her mind.
I’m pretty sure you don’t get picked to sing the national anthem if you can’t sing. And sing well. But that day, in that moment, she was having trouble staying on key.
Sympathy for her rose up in my chest. How was she going to get through this?
Then it happened. The crowd just started to sing along.
And not the pseudo-singing you hear at church or in a school gym full of parents. It was full on. Jumping in by the third line, the crowd supported her with a cushion of in-tune notes.
A smile crossed her face as her confidence grew with each word. It was one of the most wonderful moments I have ever seen take place in a large crowd.
That’s the power of support and it made me think: What if support existed in more places, particularly at work?
What I learned about team chemistry that you need to know
Does your team have chemistry?
You know, that “thing” that many of us look for in our personal relationships, with our friends, or even where we work.
In our personal relationships, it’s what we look for to know that we’ve met someone special. It’s often more of a happenstance – we meet someone and it’s there - or it’s not. We can tell. It’s almost instantaneous. We have chemistry with them. We’re on the same page; it’s as if our minds are connected. There’s a certain ease.
However, chemistry is much more difficult to achieve at work.
We’re on the lookout for it. That’s because people don’t want to be on just any team, they want to be on a team that has chemistry.
Why? Because having chemistry between team members allows special things - things that surpass the ordinary - to happen. These are the things that get you excited about going to work everyday.
Having chemistry on your team is like having a team on steroids. You know it will be successful. You can conquer anything.
But it’s elusive, hiding somewhere. Can you make it happen?
Maybe. Just maybe…
Why you need to get comfortable with change.
I hate to break it to you but you’re getting old.
Ok, ok… me too!
I don’t like to think about it and most people I know are too nice to say anything. Most people except for my kids, that is.
Yes, those babies whose diapers I changed in the wee hours of the night just a few years ago have realized I’m never going to play in the National Hockey League or face Federer on the ATP tour.
Now, they not only remind me of change by how they are growing and acquiring new skills but also by ribbing me about my lack of ability on the ice or the tennis court. What happened to respect for your elders, anyway?
They are my walking and talking reminders about how constant change is, and that’s probably good for me.
It’s probably good to be reminded that we are not the same as we once were; that change is always there despite our intense desire to ignore it
Most of us are guilty of trying to hold on to the way things are for as long as possible, when what we need to do is to keep up with change.
What my pizza adventure taught me about people
This article was originally published in October of 2015 in my newsletter and has been re-published here just for you. It was originally titled: The Great Pizza Adventure.