STRATEGIC BUY IN Archives - Ken Evraire Speaker | Storyteller

Death to Clichés

The global pandemic may have gotten to me! I have been triggered!

I have to believe I would never have written this blog 18 months ago. The odd thing is, the source of my trigger extends from a very unlikely, strange place!

Clichés! Yep, clichés! I said it! They are everywhere and here is the rub! I am guilty of using them as well.

I am part of a movement that uses clichés in a bid to stay connected to the audience made up of quick twitch minds scrolling through their social media platforms like a starving meerkat in search of its next meal.

The site Your Dictionary defines clichés as such…

“Clichés are terms, phrases, or even ideas that, upon their inception, may have been striking and thought-provoking but became unoriginal through repetition and overuse. ”

Unoriginal clearly being the operative term!

I scrolled through twitter for no less than 4 minutes and here is a list of clichés/jargon that I found.

Of note, in an effort to establish complete transparency, the final example extends from yours truly. Like I said, I am guilty!

The Magnificent 8

Authentic leaders lead authentically.
A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake
Your problem isn’t the problem. Your reaction is the problem.
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
I would rather die of passion than of boredom.
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you are the pilot!
Leadership is like conducting a symphony. It’s not your job to play all of the instruments.
Why not you? Why not you! When not you. Why not? Give yourself permission!

I get it. Clichés are nice, cute hooks that can capture the eye of the reader.

Yet, like eating liver and onions, using clichés should be enjoyed on occasion! They should never be the staple of your diet.

It’s like the 80’s Faberge Organics shampoo commercial titled “So on and so on!”.

“Mystery Men”

Every time I read a series of clichés I am brought back to a scene from the movie released in 1999 titled, “Mystery Men”. The scene stars Ben Stiller in the role of impatient super hero Furious Roy and Wes Studi in the role as Sphinx. Sphinx relies on clichés and is pragmatic in his approach and Furious Roy is a want to get things done type of guy.

Belly Buttons vs Clichés

It’s been said that belly buttons are useless but I will argue that from a life giving perspective, belly buttons are kind of valuable. Far more valuable than a cliché that does not connect you to something of greater value. A belly button serves as a portal that could bring us the next great scientist, author, BMX champion, opera singer or YouTube influencer! A cliché on its own gives birth to nothing.

Throw a whole LinkedIn lineup of clichés at someone and a trite numbness inevitably takes over.

A cliché on it’s own lacks authenticity. A series of clichés do not inspire me to get going, they inspire me to tune out and take a good nap! I want some substance with my side of snappiness!

I played professional football for 9 years in the Canadian Football League. I learned early on that the coach or player espousing a bunch of clichés usually liked the sound of their own voice and was usually ill prepared for competition.

Could you imagine a professional football coach commanding the attention of his team before heading out of the locker room to do battle and saying,

“Fellas, fellas, gather around! Never forget. It’s a 60 minute game and the bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the PILOT. Let’s go get them boys!”.

A cliché may sound good but it won’t help you when a 230 pound linebacker is trying to put you and your rib cage in row 6!

Knowledge is power!

I have always been a guy who wanted to know the what, when, where, who and why! Leading, coaching and team building is not easy. It’s a competitive industry. It requires an intuitiveness that connects people on a deeper level. It demands authenticity, depth and generosity.

Being in the business of setting others up to succeed and celebrating the potential contribution others can make is the reward for those who have been bitten by the leadership/coaching and team building bug.

If we ask our clients to buy in and put the work in, regardless of the arena they compete in, the least we as leadership and coaching experts can do is serve as an example.

Include a link to something of value with the cliché. Add some meat to the potatoes! Feed your audience.

It could be a great blog post or a great video that expands on the idea presented by the cliché. So, the time is nigh! Join the revolution! Join me in the fight to ban the art of posting clichés on their own.

This whole being triggered thing is tiring! I am going to see if Mystery Men is on Netflix!

Stay safe and well!

——————–

Ken Evraire is the owner | principal of TECTONIC TLC Team Lead Coach.

He is a quintessential team player who loves coaching, team building and talking leadership! He is grateful for the opportunity to work with a roster of fantastic clients ranging from the government sector, not for profit agencies, start ups, Fortune 500 companies and elite sports teams.

He is father to 3 precocious children, has the best ex-wife in the world, is a former professional football player that has since donated his brain. He has run 3x marathons (Honolulu 2x + Barcelona), done stand up comedy and believes the old school coach was wrong…there is indeed an “i” in Team!

Check Ken out on the following social media pages…

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-evraire-leadership/

Twitter https://twitter.com/Tectonic_tlc

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tectonictlc

Thank you Ottawa 67’s AAA Minor Bantams – CHAMPIONS!

There are many moments when I am amazed at the transformation a team can experience by simply buying in. I have seen it in the boardroom. I have seen it in career transition seminars.

And now I have seen it in the Ottawa 67’s AAA Minor Bantam hockey team. Now, getting a room full of teenage boys to focus for any length of time can be challenging, to say the least, but this team was destined for great things!

Head Coach Jim Cooke gets it! He understands the value of building the team and he understands that bringing a new voice to the locker room was the key. I signed on for 5 sessions, scheduled through the season. They were a very good team that could become great with a little help.

I spoke to them about incremental growth, focus, the finite difference between winning and losing and the knowledge that it isn’t about their opponent but rather, it was all about them and what they do. They would reap what they sow…guaranteed!

Tonight, they face the best team in the league in a do or die playoff game that will reward the winners with a trip to the semi-finals. The losing team would be done for the year.

Like the Grey Cup Champion Ottawa REDBLACKS, the 67’s had an up and down regular season.

The REDBLACKS were underdogs going into the championship game against a Calgary Stampeder’s team that went 16-2 during regular season play. But they prevailed. Here is a link featuring the day before the championship game clips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWMqKHSN7lo&t=65s

The focus was on the REDBLACKS being a team that had overcome challenges during the season and were battle tested, unlike the Stampeders. I asked them about the Stampeders not being punched in the face all season (literally and figuratively). They had not faced adversity like the REDBLACKS. Talk about a fun study of quiet confidence in an athlete and a team!

The 67’s had 6 games left in the regular season. I showed them this video and I challenged them to go 5-1 and become the most dangerous team heading into the playoffs. I wanted them to become the team that no one wanted to play. They re-focused, promised an incremental improvement in their individual game that would benefit the team and guess what. They went 5-1 over their final 6 games.

They eliminated the Ottawa Senators AAA in semi-final play and then overcame the Ottawa Valley Titans to win the title.

Congrats to the boys and the coaching staff on a job well done!

Ken Evraire is an award-winning leadership coach and team builder. As a former professional athlete, he has learned from great coaches and learned even more from the bad ones!

To contact Ken email him at ken@kenevraire.com.

To learn more about Ken, visit his website www.ken
evraire.com or visit him Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kenevrairedotcom/ or on twitter https://twitter.com/kevraire17

Theseus’ Paradox, Leadership and Team Building

How do you convince someone to follow you?

What traits would a leader need to have to convince others to follow him or her?

To answer the “how do I convince others to follow me?” question I can think of no better way to find the answer than to explore a thought experiment featuring the ship of Theseus.

To adequately capture the spirit of this explanation we must go back in time to my days at Laurier University circa 1986, for a little Philosophy 101 debate!

Professor Rocky Jacobsen stared out at a room full of first year freshmen, similar to the way Donald Sutherland looked upon his class in the cult classic movie, Animal House.

Like the class in Animal House, most of us were a little hungover at best. A Friday morning Philosophy 101 session was considered a bird class. The only real challenge was the actual waking up and getting to class part of the deal. If you can get to class you are pretty well guaranteed a passing grade.

Okay, so Theseus or to be precise the Theseus Paradox was introduced to induce debate. Rocky was a big fan of having the class pro-actively defend their positions and Theseus triggered plenty of debate. Truth is, it was all part of his wanting us to discover our freshmen voice and to take a position knowing a series of contrasting views made for a valuable educational experience.

Theseus Paradox 101

Theseus is remembered in Greek mythology as the slayer of the Minotaur. For years, the Athenians had been sending sacrifices to be given to the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull beast who inhabited the labyrinth of Knossos. One year, Theseus braved the labyrinth, and killed the Minotaur. The ship in which he returned was long preserved. As parts of the ship needed repair, it was rebuilt plank by plank.

Here comes the paradox.

Rocky asked the following question…”If Theseus sails his ship from port A to port B and every piece of the ship had been replaced by an identical piece, is it the same ship?”.

Well, the classroom lit up and the healthy debate began. Is it the same ship? Yes? No? Maybe so? Why? Why not? How does one define “same”?

Rocky played the role of traffic cop in the middle of a jammed roundabout as the battle of undergraduate minds took place. The room was immediately charged with energy!

Some built an argument around physics and how no two items are exactly the same hence it was not the same ship.

Some argued that one ship left port A and one ship arrived at port B making it one ship.

I watched the energy rise from the periphery. In part because I really had nothing to contribute as it relates to the debate.

Yet, among the cacophony of voices I realized two things.

One…Rocky was a genius. He captured the hearts and minds of an entire class with one question. For the first time in the fall term, I was learning something of value and thought provoking in university.

Second, and far more important, I realized I looked at the entire argument from a completely different perspective. It was likely connected to my football experience and needing to know the coach had a well thought out, prepared plan set up to help us succeed. He was calling plays but it was me getting hit by the heat seeking missiles on the field.

From my perspective, forget the ship! The key is the captain. The key is Theseus.

The mission in itself was life threatening to say the least. The mission message would magnify or minimize the associated fear.

“Lads, listen up. Can I have your attention? So, we are going to set sail and before we hit land, I want us to replace every piece of the ship. The journey is perilous and we could sink and die a brutal death but I think we can do it! Are you with me? Yes or no?”

Wow, what type of pregame speech did he have in his treasure chest to convince his crew to sign on for this adventure? How prepared would he have to be when asked the inevitable what, when, where, who, why and how questions?

How did Theseus get his team to buy in? There had to have been a history of trust, transparency, communication and collaboration for everyone to buy in. There had to have been a record of success forged from previous challenging situations within the group. Maybe a handful didn’t care about the message. They just needed the gig to get paid some much needed silver.

When Theseus introduces the mission I am assuming there would have been a split audience.

Let’s assume for argument’s sake that he has 30 sailors.

Cast of 30

Say 12 sailors sign up, no questions asked. They have been through many harrowing experiences and Theseus has not let them down.

Then there are 11 who need some more information. “Okay, I am kind of digging your idea but I need more info?”. They need to know the what, when, where, who and why associated with the mission. Eventually, they are all convinced to travel the 7 seas with Theseus.

There are 8 left and 5 of them need some more convincing. Not from Theseus but from the senior sailors. The more experienced sailors. Once they are convinced, Theseus now has 27 of his original team of 30 sailors on board. The remaining 3 opt to stay in the tavern and nurse their beer!

Does Theseus leave port down 3 sailors? Of course not. The word is out that Theseus is hiring, he is a great captain, his senior sailors believe in him and the mission and there is no way all of those experienced sailors would take on a doomed mission. So, there are 12 sailors hoping to get on board to make some shekels and to experience the leadership of Theseus.

Leadership rests upon 4 elements.

Connect, Communicate, Collaborate, Compete to Conquer

Connect is the first step in the process because it allows you to set the tone in terms of how the relationship will begin and what direction it will take. First impressions are everything. Getting off on the right foot is key. Be authentic.

Communicate is step number two. Let’s lay our cards on the table and begin a dialogue. We may not like everything we hear but we need to hear it so you can build a convincing strategy that will answer everyone’s questions. By communicating, everyone can get a real sense of investment.

Collaborate is an opportunity for the team to address and hopefully answer some questions that the captain does not have an answer for.

This is the problem solving stage. It the “I am okay with sailing with you but I think I can bring something to the plan that will help the entire group succeed. Collaboration leads to consensus which is a pillar in team building.

Collaboration leads to the Compete phase. A plan is in place. The plan is not etched in stone because there are unpredictable variables that are in play. What if it rains? What if we get attacked by a pirate ship? What if the crew suffers from scurvy? The mission stays in place but the navigation and mapping is open to change. If you anticipate a journey that takes you on a straight line from point A to point B…you are kidding yourself.

The process of communicating and collaborating will continue until the goal is reached. Like the sea…there will be many ebbs and flows within the journey. It may mean going back to the drawing board and re-working the problems. It may mean creating a plan B, C or D. Being married to a plan has been the Achilles heel for so many teams. Don’t let ego get in the way of evolution!

Evolution is growth. Being married to a plan with no room for change represents red flags for the team.

Being married to the goal and be willing to work the plan is the key to any team’s success.

Share the what, when, where, who and why and I may sail with you!

Ken Evraire is a quintessential team player who loves coaching, team building and talking leadership! He is grateful for the opportunity to work with a roster of fantastic clients ranging from the government sector, not for profit agencies, start ups, Fortune 500 companies and elite sports teams.

He is father to 3 precocious children, a former professional football player that has since donated his brain. He has run 3x marathons (Honolulu 2x + Barcelona), done stand up comedy and believes the old school coach was wrong…there is indeed an “i” in Team!

Check Ken out on the following social media pages…

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-evraire-leadership/

Twitter https://twitter.com/kevraire17

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kenevrairedotcom/

The Football Player and Explosives Specialist

I had a neighbor who may have the most interesting and in the same breath, the most unwanted career ever. No, he is not a judge on The Voice!

Of the top 5 gigs that you run to Babylon and back rather than pursue…his not only ranks in the top 5 it may also make up the top 5!

He is a bomb disposal specialist. That’s right. So essentially, when sane people run from the mere hint of an explosive device he walks toward it!

For security reasons, I cannot name him but he ranks a 27 on the alpha male scale and that says something knowing the scale actually only goes up to 10 (trust me it was tough to rank him so high considering I am about a 7.5!).

Now, one Halloween after the kids finished trick or treating, the guys on the street decided to gather for a few beverages!

His wife asked me not to talk about his job and I agreed. Yet, after a few beers and his wanting to talk football until my ears hurt, I felt it was my inalienable right to ask him a couple of work related questions!

In fact, it took me about 1.1 seconds to ask him the obvious $64,000 question.

“Do you ever get scared?”. Amazingly, it took him 1.1 seconds to reply. It was an unequivocal “No”. Being the former investigative reporter that I am I felt compelled to ask the next, hard hitting and seemingly logical question, “Why not?”

Amazingly, it took him 1.1 seconds to reply. It was an unequivocal “No”. Being the former investigative reporter that I am I felt compelled to ask the next, hard hitting and seemingly logical question, “Why not?”

Rather than answer my question he offered up a question of his own. “You played football, right?”. Were you ever scared?” I replied, “yes and no”. He then asked me to explain.

No, I was never scared of the obvious. The obvious being the potential consequences that accompanied trying to catch a pass on a field filled with defenders aka heat-seeking missiles. The decision to compete at a high level came with risks, I understood this reality because it was part of the job description.

Yes, there were times when I was scared and it had to do with my not feeling prepared or feeling like my teammates were not prepared. A prepared individual can compete on an elevated, instinctual level. A team of prepared individuals can work in unison and enjoy a higher degree of success. In turn, the possibility of falling victim in what essentially is a human demolition derby was minimized. Preparedness and awareness allowed me to focus on success and not survival.

“Bingo!” was his reply. “In football, what do you call the process of preparation?” he asked. I could only come up with “game planning“. “Bingo!” he said. It was then that I told him to stop saying bingo…it was kind of annoying. Yes, I am calling out a decorated explosives specialist in a garage on Halloween night. Clearly, the beverages were taking over!

Yet, he agreed that game planning and preparation was the ultimate key in trying to avoid heat-seeking missiles on the football field or explosive situations in the theatre of combat. Game planning and preparation was the key to his individual success as well as his teams success.

That’s when he introduced the 360 Degree Circle of Influence and to be frank…it immediately spoke to me and my work as a leadership coach and team builder.

With every step a team takes regardless of the theater, the story always has the potential to change in any number of ways. As a result, each and every member of the team plays a critical, organic role in the success of the mission regardless of rank.

Successful teams feature an elevated expectation of competency that allows a team to be versatile and open to change. Getting better is a process that is organic in nature and is key in managing fear and doubt. Managing the fear quotient requires a clear strategy based on the following..

trust
syncopation
communication
willingness to adapt and overcome

A great example of this can be found in auto racing. Drivers utilize

Drivers utilize saccadic vision in the bid to find a balance between their peripheral vision, forward vision, processing information and making decisions at a high rate of speed. Put a G licensed driver with a clean record into an open-wheeled, Indy racing car and as them to drive. Fear and the anticipation of failure would take over. A focus that is too narrow or too broad is the recipe for failure. The ability to sense and to adapt to circumstances is key.

Michael Schumacher, Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt or any other elite race car driver races to win…not survive.

The ability to sense and to adapt to circumstances is key. It requires practice….it requires an investment that is called preparedness.

Hockey players call it “keeping your head on a swivel!”. Preparation and training slows high stress moments down.

Today, successful corporate leaders have realized that the 360 principal is applicable to themselves and their teams. They understand that the key to fulfilling an objective is to find an alternate route when you come to an obstacle… to problem solve on the go. NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz surrounded himself with a team of brilliant minds that can launch a rocket into space…but more importantly, bring that rocket back safely after an oxygen tank blows up en route to the moon. “Failure is not an option!”

The combination of preparedness, communication, versatility and trust is the foundation for success regardless of the theater you work in.

Ken Evraire is an award winning keynote speaker, team builder, coach, former pro athlete and part time comic.

For more blog posts, visit Ken at www.kenevraire.com or to contact him, email him at ken@kenevraire.com