My husband and I went to see “The Martian”. Aside from an intriguing story, terrific, subtle humor in the writing, the tech and special effects (and ok, Matt Damon), I was reminded what happens when we have experiences that completely infuse us with inspiration…. and often that inspiration is a fiction – in this case, the only human in the universe who happens to be stranded on Mars. Nasty terrifying problem right? Your cohorts, who assumed you were dead, took off without you and now it will take them four years to come back and get you. That is, if the powers that be share that info with said cohorts AND if your team mates decide to sacrifice the next decade of their lives to come back and get you. Yikes. Who of us would consider ourselves THAT valuable?
But that’s not why I’m writing. Why I’m writing has more to do with the trip to the grocery store my husband and I made after the movie, and how the story, music, and most of all the incredible TEAM WORK of “The Martian” completely changed and actually elevated a routine trip to the grocery store.
Ordinarily, my hubby and I are not exactly on the same culinary page: He has a sweet tooth, so things like cookies, popcorn and chocolate are his priorities. For me, I hit the produce section first and proceed around the periphery of the store, avoiding, as much as possible, the internal aisles packed with over-priced processed foods. He gets snippy when I buy too many apples just because they are on special. I roll my eyes at the latest offering from the Chocolate Bar. However – on this day, something about seeing that movie – seeing those characters so well trained and focused on rescuing Matt Damon from a Red Planet Death – kind of jet propelled us through our local Shop and Save and gave us a team work experience unlike anything we had ever known. Never before had a trip to the grocery store been this focused, fast, and fun!
You could say that my husband and I were operating under a shared alternate reality – complete with space movie theme music propelling us through the store. One cart – 7 items to get – who needs a list? GO! I head off to the deli for rotisserie chicken – he goes to the opposite end of the aisle – he’s about to turn back to the deli after getting the canned beans but I hold up my juicy chicken in it’s handy packaging from the other side of the aisle- he nods, and heads to the dairy. I grab onions, carrots and pears. Only three. No more needed. Meeting up at the end of the coffee aisle I hand off the cart to him so he can put the eggs in without breakage and I’ll meet him in the check-out line once I grab the TP. DONE! No one else was sharing this experience, of course, and we deftly steered around people stopped in the middle of the aisles trying to call up lists or spouses on cell phones, while chasing down offspring. We, however, were operating under rules from a different experience, infused with adventure, challenge, purpose. Ordinarily, this errand might easily have taken a half hour, what with the distractions and frustrations inherent in the grocery experience. Sure this was only happening in our minds, but we bought into it and invested ourselves in it – and it took all of ten minutes. We know because once in our car, I checked the time before declaring the air-locks closed and ready for take-off!
This got me thinking about simulations and their impact on our experience. Several years ago, there was some interesting theories going around about simulation and fantasy. But I’m more interested in simulation and its impact on reality. It could be argued that The Martian – fantasy though it was – allowed us to experience the possibility of optimal team effort.
Now, Imagine what might happen if this same kind of effect was intentionally created to motivate your working team….
We’re all familiar, and perhaps sick of – role play, but a well-written hypothetical case, complete with clearly articulated roles…. can be valuable and enticing to even the most recalcitrant team member. I began to develop and implement hypothetical cases in the Shift/POV test demonstrations, but the response I got from participants indicated that these cases were a valuable part of the tool package, so I’m busy creating more for our next conference experiences. They are now included with purchase of Shift/POV so come visit the site to learn more – and get your team started on experiencing the possible!