Peace by Piece
My wife has a love-hate relationship with puzzles. She loves the sense of accomplishment that comes with successful completion, but hates the early sense of overwhelm that can accompany the initial stages of progress…
Sound familiar?
The puzzle she/we completed this Christmas break provides a brilliant metaphor.
My wife got the puzzle and boldly made the start. The rest of the family was invited to get involved but only if we wanted to. Initially the challenge looked like an impossible task. The pieces were difficult to link to the picture, and there were 1,000 of them so it was easy to find an excuse to do something else!
After a day, the boundary frame had been completed by the “project leader” so the family started to believe it might be possible to get this puzzle done. We all began to offer a little more time and interest to the campaign. We all started following, if only out of curiosity…
Then by day 3, Santa Claus emerged (in the puzzle)! The picture took on a life of its own. Everyone in the family was drawn in. No one wanted to miss out on the final push to the finish line. It became “our” puzzle and “our” success. Finding the right place for each piece was still difficult but the mood was now set – one team, one mission.
When the final puzzle piece was placed, there was excited celebration. It was considered a team effort even though there was a clear leader and a few “first followers”. It was another reference point for the concept of “play” as I described in my TEDx Talk on Moodset.
On any campaign, if team players enjoy playing, and they feel their contribution makes a difference, the seemingly impossible can be accomplished!
It starts with leadership, it flows with shared ownership, it ends with a mini championship.
Embracing a challenge builds character and collaboration. Enrolment, and encouragement is part of that challenge. Celebration is the easy part once the challenge is overcome.
What is Moodset? Moodset is about what you feel and sense, the atmosphere, the energy, the heart and soul of a group in a certain place. Some call it performance climate. Moodset is as important as mindset for inspiring excellence.
If you enjoyed this article, I would encourage you to check out my popular book on performance improvement; Accelerating Automatic!
Tim Wigham is Head of Performance at Exceed Energy. He is an Amazon#1 bestselling co-author of Purposeful People and a TEDx Speaker on the topic of Moodset and Team Performance.
