Team Building

Pickleball: A Powerful Metaphor for Leadership Development and Team Building

In the world of sports, some activities transcend their recreational value and offer unique insights into other aspects of life. Pickleball, a rapidly growing racquet sport, not only provides fun and fitness but also serves as a remarkable metaphor for leadership. This article explores how playing pickleball can be an ideal tool for leadership training and team building within businesses.

I. Agility and Adaptability:

One of the key qualities of effective leaders is their ability to navigate challenges with agility and adaptability. Similarly, in pickleball, players must swiftly adjust their strategies based on their opponents’ moves and court dynamics. By experiencing this dynamic nature of the game, leaders can understand the importance of being flexible and quickly adapting to changing circumstances, thus improving their decision-making skills in real-world scenarios.

Big Brother

Another celebrity version of reality show Big Brother, here in the UK, has finished. Phew, I’m glad that’s over. I always wonder how I would fair being locked up in a house for a month with complete strangers who would eventually get on my nerves.

I guess it’s no different to working with your colleagues, who are at the end of the day complete strangers and usually when you work in an office together you have to find a way to get on.

They say you spend more time with your work colleagues then you do with your family, that is if you work in an office and not from home of course.

But very few companies invest in getting strangers who are thrown together to perform well together.

I was part of a team building exercise, doing some freelancing. All I had to do was facilitate some in-door team building games.

Within seconds I would witness how participants would forget about all their inhibitions and start accusing colleagues for not playing the game correctly. When the going gets tough we return to type and think of our own survival.

Whether it’s Big Brother or working in teams, we can all be a little more considerate of working with and interacting with others who are not family.

Happy interacting!

Michael de Groot