Zynia - Motivational metaphors for Training and Development

More Olympic Thoughts

I’m not a sports fan but you just can’t escape the Olympics – on the news, in the papers and everyone is talking about them.
I heard an interesting comment yesterday about the fact that the Olympics aren’t really about teams; it’s individual achievements that count – I’m not sure about that and I don’t think all the commentators are either. There was a discussion about the successful women’s swimming “team” on the radio. Yes, the individual women are winning the medals and that’s wonderful – I wish I could swim half as well as they do – but the discussion was about how much the coach influenced the swimmers successes – a great deal, was the final answer. Without a good coach they would not be where they are now.
There are several stories in Zynia’s Teams pack which illustrate this very well – “One bad apple” although set in World War II, it illustrates the need for everyone to pull together in order for the team to succeed. The short anecdote quoted here nicely shows what can go wrong
Nice Work: “I hate going to work, there’s a real atmosphere in our office. Even visitors comment on it. We’re always bickering and talking behind each other’s backs – it’s become a habit. I only go to work because if I’m not there I don’t know what they’ll say about me” – Listen to this and more in the Teams pack. But I leave you with this thought – would a team like this win a gold medal?