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Amazing Story - The Team That Just Won $3,600!
This is the true story of two snowboarders who took a risk. They made something exceptional happen that couldn’t happen using ordinary thinking. We first saw this story in a newsletter and found it so fascinating that we kept it as an example to help our clients understand that what we were telling them was the key to driving their business results. Here it is:
The Team that Just Won $3,600
"Summit County Colorado, USA. The Keystone ski resort in Summit County, Colorado, opened for the winter season at 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 12, 2004, with 36 continuous hours of skiing/riding billed as the "KSMT 36-Hour Team Challenge." Two Summit County snowboarders rode away with $3,600 in cash as the grand prize team winners of the challenge. Prophetically, 26-year-old Nick Gearhart and 25-year-old Bill Pomeroy had named their team "The Team That Just Won $3,600."
How They Did It
Was it overconfidence or foresight?
That day, Nick and Bill created a future for themselves as a team. They didn’t create an average, fleeting daydream; Nick and Bill created a future and boldly declared it to the world.
Of course, they could have competed that day like most of the other teams— just aiming for the prize and hoping to ski hard enough to beat the other teams.
However, Nick and Bill created conversation—a declaration—that they could believe in and work together to close the gap between what they declared, and reality.
Most of us live our lives and work hard, hoping that one day we will be lucky enough to be rewarded with something we really want such as a successful business, a new car, a beautiful home, or a great relationship. Regardless of what we want, we start with that goal firmly planted in our hopes and dreams. Then, we begin working toward it, so that one day we can say we are successful and be proud of our accomplishments. What happens when that goal is never reached because of unforeseen circumstances? Can we afford to plan our futures simply using hope?
Hope is not a strategy.
Naturally, we all believe that if everyone will work hard enough, we will all be successful. But that's the hard way to achieve goals and success in your company. Bill and Nick intuitively recognized this and decided to reach their goal the easy way—by having what we call a “conversation for action”; a declaration and a commitment to act.
If Bill and Nick had been like the rest of the 110 or so teams on the slopes of Colorado that weekend, you never would have heard about them - here or anywhere. There would be nothing to tell. But, simply because they took the least traveled route and staked their future on a bold declaration, they changed the world (for them at least – and hopefully for you now that you are beginning to see it’s possible).
Bill and Nick’s grand adventure that day and a half on the ski slopes of Colorado proved one thing: “if you can believe it, you will see it”. They literally ‘said’ how it was going to be. And then they made sure it would be that way at the end. That’s ultimate power - to declare such a thing will happen in the future and then make it happen - that’s a very powerful "conversation".
Your business needs these kinds of conversations.
Put Their Innovation to Work in Your Company
People are having conversations in your company every day, all day. The question is: Are they having conversations that move employees forward or conversations that hold them back? Wouldn't you like to know what your employees are really thinking and really talking about?
In business, we tend to focus on things that don't work—failure and breakdowns dominate the landscape. We have found that people who resist failure have a harder time succeeding; why is that? During struggles, we naturally go into survival mode and try to change the circumstances. During these times, we stop working on achieving success and begin working on avoiding failure. If an entire company gets caught in this cycle, the conversations become negative and often personal.
You can’t build a successful organization when negative conversations dominate the background.
We have witnessed entire companies work on the wrong thing just to avoid failure. There is a tremendous difference in the conversations in companies that are succeeding as opposed to those in companies that are struggling.
This is what sets BEST Place to Work companies apart from the rest. It's the kind of conversations in those organizations that make their workplaces so great.
Everything is a Conversation, Including Business
The BEST Places to Work takes teams of ordinary people who are willing to make extraordinarily bold declarations about what they want to accomplish as individuals and as an organization. They take courageous action and produce breakthrough results. None of this is possible without the power of speech and without participating in the right conversations, which connect people to each other and to the company vision.
Connected People Produce Breakthrough Results
Whether your team consists of two people or two hundred people, being part of a powerful team that works effectively together is one of the most gratifying experiences for individuals. We help build organizations that go beyond what team members believe is currently possible.
How Do I Follow Nick and Bill’s Lead?
To see the impossible happen in your company, you must be willing to lead the change in the conversations that will transform your work environment. Be willing to let go of the old, unproductive conversations currently running you and your company. Don’t let the limiting conversations win.
If you don't align on the outcomes and craft the conversations for them - and believe they are possible - then the limiting conversations that are automatic and prevalent in your company today win out. It's that simple.
How do you get employees to believe in something they can't see? Your position as the leader is pivotal; you must ask the right questions and uncover the right answers through the inquiry itself.
At The BEST Places to Work, we lead that inquiry. Through the process and conversations, you will learn the power of connecting and transforming your organization and the people in it - forever. All it takes is one small action.
Are You Ready?
Experience the ConnectionPoints™ Promise-Based Management technology of The BEST Places to Work:
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Call Us and we'll give you the secret to the source of all results. 713-974-0468, or
ConnectionPoints™ is our proprietary business model used in ‘Building a BEST Place to Work Company’. It’s a Promise-Based Management technology that we designed and use for teaching business leaders the conversations that connect their employees to their organization’s vision to produce breakthrough results - results you haven't yet imagined are possible.
