Now there’s a choice you’re not offered often. Had I got a full night’s sleep last night, you’d not have been offered it today either. At about 5:30 this morning, a wasp entered my bedroom through an open window and its incessant buzzing against the closed window alongside woke me up. Getting up and helping it out didn’t help either of us for long. It simply flew back in and got stuck again in the same place. Three times. Clever. I gave up and listened to the buzzing.
So I was awake. Thinking I wanted to be asleep. But thinking and sleeping are, as you will know, pretty much mutually exclusive. My mind turned to a slide we used to use back in the days when we were stand-up trainers. It was an image of a wasp and a fly stuck in a bottle together. We used it to highlight the importance of teams not getting stuck in ruts. Habits, we said, were good things. They helped us be effective when nothing changes. But when change is the order of the day, habits kill effectiveness and maybe finish off whole organisations too.
That’s where the image came in. We asked people to imagine that they could have been cruel enough (some had less difficulty with this than others!) to have trapped a wasp and a fly inside a milk bottle and then covered it up with a dark blanket or similar. They then orient the base of the bottle towards a window on a nice, bright sunny day. They then take off the cover so that the prisoners could see the light and set about escaping. We ask what happens next. The answer is simple. The fly hits its head maybe a couple of times on the base as it heads towards the light, works out there’s no way out that way and then flies around until it finds the open end and off it goes, free as a, well, fly.
The wasp? Its whole programming says the way out is where the light is brightest. It continues buzzing away, bashing its head against the base of the bottle, then eventually it stops buzzing and will die unless given assistance, a victim of its programming. A victim of its habits, if you will. It explains my problem early this morning.
Whatever else these times are, for most work teams they are certainly times of change. Perhaps fewer people doing the same work; perhaps the same people doing different work; or maybe a mix of the two. One thing is for certain, act like wasps and you’re in for the odd nasty shock. Teams need to adapt to survive and prosper. As indeed do organisations.
We think that is one area that our team building options can particularly help with. They combine a great time for everyone with genuine learning and a focus on how to adapt to changed circumstances. They help teams overcome the difficulties their old habits may cause them, yet also help them build upon their existing experience and strengths to reach new heights. They help teams find their open windows, if you like.
We really can help you keep – and re-invigorate – your team’s buzz. Message delivered. I’ll buzz off now.
Alan
