Pull Me Out Of Any Meeting

Welcome back to Together UP!

I talk about things that contribute to a mission of having Leaders and their Teams of all kinds, corporate & athletic, fill the void in what’s missing so they can have as many people as possible say & feel, “I’m on the best team, I love coming in every day”

We’re better Together.
Your People = Your Performance.

@adambreneman81

Important lesson for young athletes: During my freshman year at Penn State, I was struggling to get on the field. I hesitated to approach... See more

A friend sent me this video and said “seems like he listened to a talk by Jon Hess”

That made me happy. Thank you Steve Lesser

I’m getting more and more pieces of content / videos / message sent to me from people. Send me things you think resonate I love to see them!

What resonates for me is the messages all fit within a framework of how to treat people, how to be treated, and the human side of leadership and performance.

It means my message and brand is resonating with people.

I don’t tend to receive the Jocko Willink / David Goggins do hard shit content.
And that is appropriate.

The two camps are different. I do not fall into the “do hard shit” camp when it comes to leadership and team development and I’m open with people and potential clients upfront that if that’s what they’re looking for, that’s not me.

I do help: foster the stuff that will enable the team to

• Do the hard things

• Want to do the hard things together

• Communicate why each individual can contribute by doing the hard things and how they will matter as individuals helping the team get to the mission.

But we’re not just going to throw you into a pit of cold mud and then say go climb that wall, figure it out and you’ll be better on the other side.

You have to follow where your mind naturally travels, and my mind travels to the power of human impact and connection through, I don’t know, the “soft” stuff.

And it resonates with me because it works.

OKAY Thank You for allowing me to wax poetic. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

The video shared above and why we’re talking about it.

You’ll notice in the video PSU Football Player Adam Breneman talks about his own challenge, and his message of the importance to remember that, “Coaches, and people and leaders are human.” Through having that mindset he was able to have a conversation that changed the whole dynamic of his life and experience.

And he also shared, “if you show them that you care, they’re more likely to give you an opportunity.”

BUT

Since I see things through a Leadership lens, and look for the subtle triggers and game-changing signals that leaders provide to create the lane for these opportunities during human interaction, I look to the very well-respected Coach Bill O’Brien’s Signal in his response.

*Bill O’Brien is the current Head Coach of the Boston College Eagles, and has been a highly successful coach in the NFL, as well as at Penn State.

Let’s notice what he didn’t say:

• “Sure Adam, anytime”
  OR

• “Grab me at practice”
  OR

• “Sure Adam what’s on your mind?” Maybe launching a text conversation
  (Worse outcome)
  OR

• “Happy to”

All of these seem nice and inviting right? And maybe Adam still goes and talks to coach.
But his instinctual response tells me that this goes much deeper for him and. he is intentional in his approach to prioritizing these types of interactions.

He said “Come any time today. Pull me out of any meeting. I’m In.”

Pull. me. out. of. any. meeting.

What an incredibly subtle, but powerful signal. One tiny step further than a simple “Of course”.

With that signal, he made it very clear to Adam that the conversation he wanted to have with him was the coach’s highest priority - above any meeting he would be in. Giving Adam the comfort, courage, and support he would need as the person with less control approaching someone who holds power over them.

You can snip this scenario and paste it into any corporate or athletic setting where there is concern or confusion ver one’s perforamnce and role, and they have to approach their person of power.

How often is this screwed up?
How often is this met with a message of low priority?
How often is this looked at as - “Oh here we go, another guy on my team coming to me to complain about his role”

The answer is - A LOT.

I’d even argue that since he made Adam aware that he was his #1 priority at that moment, that Adam likely even felt more conviction in his ability to be open and accurately communicate how he was feeling.

To put the icing on the cake, Coach O’Brien didn’t shut him down. He said “I’ll give you a chance”

One of my favorite ways of defining what goes into Resilience is that it consists of Control, Identity, and Community.

Does the person have control over their situation?
Do they own or even have an identity?
Do they have people around them who support them?

Coach O’Brien’s handling of this nailed all three.
He gave Adam control in getting his spot back by giving him a chance.
He allowed for Adam’s Identity to continue to be within him as a TE for the Penn State Football team.
He was there to support him.

I wonder how far Adam would have fallen w/out the foundation of resilience.

The Navy Seals say we don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of your preparation.

I like to say, we don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of our foundation of support and resilience.

We’re better together.

Together UP!

Help Us Do More Together

I’d love to hear your feedback on other ideas, on how I can help your team, or just hear from you in general.

Tell me. [email protected]

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