one hat at a time

Check out this hat-related poem, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

The Love-Hat Relationship
by Aaron Belz

I was in the midst of yet another team of 40 people--some long-time members, some new--all a bit apprehensive about what the day-long session might reveal. We needed more than an awkward "Hi, my name is..." We needed an icebreaker than helped set the tone and get them in the right frame of mind for the heavy mental lifting they would have to be doing. I spread an assortment of cards on each of the round tables, made a simple statement and asked a simple question.

"We all come to this meeting wearing many hats; playing many roles. I'll bet there are many of you who come to this meeting with many ideas, questions and concerns. Let's get our heads on straight while we get to know one another a bit better. You'll see a pile of cards with drawing of hats on them. Please select the hat that best represents the spirit, energy and perspective you'd like to bring to this meeting as we discern what's next for this team. Then each of you will have 30 seconds to tell us your name, the many hats you wear and briefly why you chose the hat that you did."

I modeled what I would have them do so they got a sense of what the round of intros would look like. I gave them about 2 minutes to find a card and think about their intro. Then the fun and laughter began....

Last week I was working with a 29-person strategic planning team in Plano, Texas. They were two weeks out from rolling out the initiative and soliciting feedback as a part of a highly visible, major annual meeting. The meeting was devoted to nailing down lots of the details surrounding the presentations and small group decisions they were responsible for facilitating.

The anticipation and stress were almost palpable.

We started the meeting talking about all the roles they play and the importance of showing up to at this meeting with a "hattitude" that would help them be great ambassadors for the strategic plan team. Each person picked a hat from the One Hat At A Time deck and shared the hat and the why with the group as a whole.

There were several coach hats to keep the focus on everyone getting equipped to get in the game, several high-risk hats (cowboy, parachute, firefighter) that acknowledged the thrill, danger and risk in doing something new. Some chose the artist's beret as a reminder of the powerful force of co-creation. Still others chose  astronaught/diving hats to emphasize the thrill and history-making opportunity that comes with exploration of new terrains.

The next time you show up to a big opportunity, choose your hattitude with intention!

As a rose bush grows new shoots, the growing of thorns occurs in a perfect thorn-to-stem ratio. The thorns beneath the beautiful flowers provide a system of defense that is always there without the rose having to do anything but grow. This caused me to wonder:

• Is there something like a thorn to stem ratio built into my DNA?
• Are my defense mechanisms organic and triggered by growth?
• Or are they triggered by something else (e.g., fear, loss of control, etc.)?

Intuitive impulses that warn us of danger or make us suspicious are an example of one kind of organic human defense mechanism. This wariness can help us mitigate threats by crafting new solutions or it can shut us off from possibility. Sometimes our intuitive sense tells us to avoid the very situations where our next lessons and breakthroughs lie.

If you are facing a decision and one choice seems to send up intuitive red flags, ask: What would it take for me to say "yes"? Collect these answers and watch some new possibilities emerge which allow you to smell the roses without getting pricked too badly by the thorns.

I don't need any more email and I'm sure you don't either. Sorry if our system has filled your inbox with strange emails in many different languages. In the attempt to stop the madness we have totally shut down the old site and are working to rebuild it.

Until then, I've decided to provide information and food for thought in this space. Please let me know if you receive any junk mail from (nonsense)@onehatatime.com from this time and date forward.

Thanks for your understanding and patience!