Tämä teksti on julkaistu Portugalin opettajakoulutuksen blogissa http://du.blogs.tamk.fi/?p=69&preview=true

My name is Hermanni and I’ll be joining you at the end of this month in Braganza as an Assistant Coach to Hanna. And, as you might be able to see from the title, there might be a trend in books written by Simon Sinek around this team learning method.

A few weeks ago, as I was finishing my Team Master-training in a beautiful setting of an old farmhouse in Central Finland, we sat in a circle with a group of people (teachers, principals, entrepreneurs) I had not known 2 days before. We sat in that circle and we cried, because we were coming to an end of something meaningful and important. We cried, because we didn’t want it to end. But, at the same time we cried from the joy of having shared that experience.  We cried in front of strangers, because we felt safe enough to do so.

Team Master was 1 year program focused on the coaching and team learning mentality and practicality. On the last session, the topic was the Coaching Character. Who are we as coaches, what is our approach, what is our mentality? In those two days we had explored the deepest parts of our personas, both work and civil and created a new image of ourselves as coaches. In words and thoughts, we were reborn.

All of this was made possible because in those Team Master sessions we share a deep trust towards one another. It is a haven, where no one will be judging you based on your results. You are not graded, branded, classed or divided into groups based on your skill. We face each other with an open mind and listen to what the other wants to say. And because of that safety, we are able to openly explore new ideas, new theories and learn new things.

Being afraid takes a lot of energy. Suppressing ideas takes a lot of energy. A culture that drives you into groupthinking, where no one is brave enough to have a different opinion is the recipe for doom.

All of this came together as I was reflecting on my soon-to-end journey as the CEO of our company and took form as one of the three core principles in my Character as the quote from Tootic from the moomins:

All things are so very uncertain, and that’s exactly what makes me feel reassured.

Thats the kind of trust that I want to cultivate in my teams. A trust that even when everything else changes around you, you still trust the that the team will manage to find its way. And that kind of trust is exactly what Simon Sinek explores in his theory of The Circles of Safety.