Thanks Olympians, for Inspiring Our Facilitative Leadership

I just love the Winter Olympics! There is something special sharing the experience with family and friends. All the Olympians are amazing, they perform to their best at the moment, they have truly unique and amazing journeys, and their preparation and visioning is astounding. It sparks good conversation with my kids about setting goals, preparation, grace, things that go wrong and things that go right. I stand in awe!

So, right now I am aware that I can learn a lot about my facilitative leadership from these athletes. From Vonn’s visualization of her race, to the extensive preparation by Teter and Mancuso, to White’s drive to push the envelope, to the Grace of Jacobellis as she lost her bid for a medal, to the celebration of medalists. My musings follow:

Visualization: Do I take the time to visualize a successful outcome as a leader and a team member? How might I build greater mastery in this? At ideaconnect we focus a lot on visualizing successful outcomes through a variety of tools, our Success Looks Like Template; use of pictures and collages, conversations. And watching the Olympians reminds me again, just how important this is, not to be taken for granted.

Preparation: Am I honoring the time it takes to prepare? What do I need to increase my preparation skills? How can I lead myself and others in preparing? When the athletes know their successful outcome, they then focus on preparation….something I know I could practice more.

Pushing the Envelope: Am I trusting in the power of possibilities? That I might not be able to do something now, but my vision will take me beyond the status quo? Lots of emotions are connected with pushing the envelope, it is the trust and the inner knowing that open the possibilities.

Grace: In what ways does Grace show up in my life? How do I express Grace as I am working or leading a group? One way that comes to mind is speaking honestly and without assumptions and understanding that Grace is always available to us.

Celebration: Do I honor the importance of celebration? A celebration replenishes, it honors the effort, it closes one thing and opens another. I like celebrating.

I look forward to another week of the Olympics. How do the Olympians inform your facilitative leadership?