A few years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Leadership Tomorrow. You spend a year in a melting pot of people from very diverse personal and professional backgrounds. Participants encounter leadership challenges.
One such challenge involved toothpicks and marshmallows. The instructions required you to pick a team and build the tallest structure utilizing the toothpicks and the marshmallows.
I made a beeline for the engineer in the room. If anybody should know how to build a tall structure, it should be the engineer. I just knew I had to be on the winning team.
Sadly, our team did NOT win.
To be fair, this is not a reflection of the engineer. If you need an engineer, I’d recommend my teammate in a heartbeat. The structural integrity of our marshmallow tower was second to none!
“Wise people understand the need to consult experts; only fools are confident they know everything.” ~Ken Poirot
In this scenario, I was the fool.
Wisely you should have an expert in your group, but what about the other voices?
- What do you miss by listening to only one voice?
- What angle can others offer?
- What do others see that you don’t?
- What is the impact of collaboration?
Next time you step into a meeting, invite the quiet voices to participate. You’ll be amazed at what you are missing.
Facilitation is the art of making things easy. Let me help you build your team by making it easy to hear all the voices in your group. Reach out to schedule a consultation today.
