Team By Team LIVE changed perceptions, stretched comfort zones and uncovered abilities. 15 leaders and entrepreneurs from a diverse range of businesses combined to write a book. Not bad for an evening’s work!
Once our guests arrived and dined, our evening began with a keynote from Ruth Barnes, Head of L&D at Savills, sharing:
- How trust is key to building success
- The secret to getting work done when getting permission is a barrier
- Ways of handling L&D’s relationship with HR
With the room warmed up and buzzing with inspiration, our facilitators Susan and Tinashe set a challenge. Write a book in an hour. Specifically, each participant in this workshop was to write 400-500 words in 45-50 minutes. Each participant, that is, apart from our team of editors and designers, ready and waiting to take written articles through towards a finished book.
This kind of challenge is simple but not easy for two reasons.
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Preconceptions of Inability
When it comes to writing, any room will contain people who would rate themselves at various points on the scale of ability. One participant even got in touch with us before the event started to say that writing under time pressure would be very difficult for them. Tapping at a keyboard to form coherent sentences is simple, but often it’s our preconceived idea it’s not possible that holds us back.
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The Perfectionist Mindset
We want to create a masterpiece. Admittedly some of us more than others (this is one of my own battles!). The problem with this is that striving for perfection always comes at the cost of getting it done. 75% of the words at 100% quality can’t be sent to the editor. 100% of the words at anywhere from 50-100% quality can. Even Ruth battled her perfectionist tendencies during the writing process!
Our participants rose to the challenge. They did it. 15 people who barely knew each other had combined to write a book on communication in under an hour. The title, also chosen by the group, was ‘CHAT. Natter That Matters’. The book was completely edited, designed and digitally published within 24 hours. To see the evidence, click here!
We made a video about the evening which you can watch below. Thanks to our keynote speaker Ruth and all our guests at Team By Team LIVE.