“Grab Butts”

“If you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. The difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling these guys have for one another.”

Vince Lombardi

I’ve Been Thinking . . . about what it takes to create a high performing, World Class team. Strangely enough I gained a bit of insight in a most unusual place.

I read about a college that offers a course called Environmental Science, a sophisticated title for a class about the outdoors. The class syllabus includes a number of field trips including a long hike in the mountains navigating a number of steep trails.

One year, to prepare the students for the hike, the professor used a rather unconventional training exercise.

He gathered all the students in a wide open area and announced these instructions: “I want you to mingle around and grab each others’ butts.” You can imagine the reaction. Hesitancy. Nervousness. Curiosity. But, they made the best of the situation and followed the professor’s request.

Once the students had a ‘feel’ (pardon the poor pun) for the experience, the professor shared his rationale for this unusual exercise.

“We are going to be walking up a steep, narrow, slippery slope,” he explained. “Because of this, we will have to hike single file, hunched over, using our hands and feet. If the person in front of you should slip, the first thing you will encounter is his or her butt. If that happens, you will need to reach up with both hands, grab on to both cheeks, and stop him or her from falling. If you’re uneasy touching someone’s butt, you might be tempted to step aside and let the person slide. This would put him or her in immediate risk of severe injury, as well as those behind you.”

There’s a marvelous team building principle embedded in this story. We don’t grab butts, but every team member is well advised to get close to their co-workers so we are better able to help in time of need. Team members who don’t practice butt-grabbing by really getting to know their co-workers are by-passing a critical team building opportunity.

Howard Hendricks said, “You can impress people from a distance, but you can only impact them close up.”

In vibrant organizations there is a unified spirit, a sense of camaraderie. It’s all about family and a mutual interest in each other’s success and well-being. Every team member’s ultimate task is to see that this common bond is sustained.

Our Teamwork value says: “Our relationships are built on mutual trust and respect. We recognize the value and worth of each person we are privileged to encounter, work with, and serve. We seek to understand what is important to others and let people know they are appreciated for who they are and what they do.”

Our value is another way of practicing the “Butt Grabbing” example. What can you do to get more comfortable with your co-workers? Take time to get to know people. Discover what’s important to them. Seek to understand their ideas, feelings, opinions, beliefs and values. Get inside of their world. Let others know how much you value them and appreciate all they do to help the team succeed.

In addition, let people see who you are. Be genuine. Be vulnerable. Be real. Listen to people’s hearts. Share yours. Take time to connect with people. The more transparent you are; the less people have to guess who you are or how you’ll respond to situations. Express what’s in your heart.

Be willing to give of yourself without expecting anything in return. Whatever you want most for your team, be willing to give it. Speak positively about each other, your efforts and your achievements. Help each other win and take pride in each other’s accomplishments. Go to great lengths to help each other be right – not wrong.

The news headlines read: “The Miracle at Quecreek.” Nine miners, trapped for three days 240 feet underground in a water-filled mine shaft, “decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group.”

The fifty-five-degree water was the perfect formula for death by hypothermia. One news report recounted the miner’s experience: “When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned.”

Everybody had strong moments,” miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from Somerset Hospital in Somerset, Pennsylvania. “But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That’s the only way it could have been.”[1]

Miracle of miracles. . . they all came out alive - together.

Huddling together, butt-grabbing, supporting, trusting, sacrificing, unselfishness. . . all part of building a World Class Team.

“The difference between an average player and a great player is your willingness to sacrifice for your teammates.”

Charles Garfield

[1] From Brian Palmer, Jeff Flock, and Jeff Goodell, “Quecreek Miner Miracle: Teamwork Helped Miners Survive Underground,” 28 July 2002. Found at www.CNN.com /2002/US/07?28 mine-accident.