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Dimension
I DISCOVERING
DIFFERENCES Acceptance
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Key
Concept 2: COLLABORATION Successful individuals are those who learn how to collaborate rather than competing with others.
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SNAPSHOT:
Tennis Courts, 1998 The
tennis master coaches the student Andrew
was preparing for a big tennis competition. He had been slowly regaining
his childhood tennis skills with a friend keen to coach him, but was
starting to feel overwhelmed by the skill levels of his potential
opponents. He was beginning to think he didn’t stand a chance against
the more advanced players. He had
seen many of them practicing, and could tell they had superior racquets
and ground strokes. He was going to be out-psyched before he even got
started. The
coach, who had played at international professional level in his day, was
desperately trying to show Andrew that he could win if he took a new
approach to the match. Rather than focusing on the advanced equipment and
strokes, his coach was able to demonstrate that there are other ways to
win. Just
to prove his point, the coach elected to play with a well-and-truly
outdated racquet and a limited stroke selection while giving Andrew the
best racquet and choice of strokes. Andrew
was given the latest hypercarbon tennis racquet from Wilson, which is 70%
lighter than a regular racquet, but delivers 1.5 times more power with the
same effort. Its sweet spot has an accuracy up to 3 times greater than a
normal racket. The
original Wilson Jack Kramer pro staff wooden racket, circa 1975, is a much
heavier, smaller and weaker racquet. That was to be the coach’s tool. It
looks like it belongs in a museum, an antiquated object, the tennis
equivalent to the horse carriage or scythe. They started with a warm up hit, and
Andrew was doing fine. The harder the coach hit, the harder Andrew would
return it. Then they started the match. That’s when it all started to
fall apart. Even thought the coach barely tapped the ball over the net,
hardly moving around and not even working up a sweat, Andrew lost 6-0. He
simply fell apart. Andrew
apologised for letting the coach down and not playing well, but the coach
merely smiled and explained what he had set out to prove. All he had done,
he said, was to ensure that Andrew was never able to play his strengths.
The coach had set up the match to ensure all shots were taking advantage
of his strengths to and playing them to Andrew’s weaknesses. They
exchanged racquets for the next set and he guided Andrew through the play,
showing Andrew how to take advantage of his own weaknesses. This time,
they came to a tie breaker, and in the actual tennis competition, Andrew
reached the finals. Finding
the best strategy There are some great tools
around that can really assist with individual, group and organizational
development. We often use the DiSC Behaviour Profiling system, for
example, to help individuals and teams to learn about themselves more
effectively. These are a great starting point for discovering and learning
to deal with differences. The
DiSC Profiling System has been used effectively with millions of people
all around the world, but ultimately the application of the tool is more
important than the tool itself. Similarly
,“strength” of delivery – such as the powerful presentations given
by motivational gurus and generally confident self help experts – is
also not enough. There needs to be a solid strategy before either the
tools or delivery can make a difference. Once
we can understand the underlying processes, the ways we are relating to
each other beneath the surface, we can begin to find better ways to relate
to others and improve our relationships. THE
3D DYNAMIC
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