I’ve been re-exposed to the word “rigour”. I didn’t really think I would use it to describe a space that Avo or I would be training in, you know we do the ‘soft’ skills, but the last three courses I’ve been running with have been … rigorous (even though its still the soft stuff).

Yep that’s it … rigorous. And I guess the rigour-ness came in the debate, the discussion and the questioning. Not the material, not the concepts, not the exercises but the interaction. So for me its been a ‘wonderful’ challenge, a ‘fantastic’ experience and ‘exciting’ growth. The nice optimistic adjectives are in italics because when you are in the middle of holding the debate and hearing the arguments it feels very hard, … rigorous.
We are rolling out a country wide change intervention with one of our favourite clients (need to withhold name for now) and they are absolutely fantastic. For them it’s a serious change, hence the rigour of the arguments and debate.

I’m the facilitator and I know they are learning and unlearning a lot, but I’m learning just as much if not more than them.

What people? And what skill? Let me paint you a picture: They are strong, smart, driven, fast, efficient, energetic, focused, enthusiastic, engaging, fun and funny, witty, quick thinking, quick to argue, quick to challenge … rigorous … and on top of their game.

You try and keep up with this bunch in a day, even if you are the facilitator, wow …! And so back to my word, yep, Rigorous. I know that much of the nuts and bolts of this massive change rests on the shoulders of these guys and as one of them said yesterday, “the success is in our hands boys”. With this kind of talent in a company I have absolutely no doubt that they will succeed and stay an international leader in their field.
For those of you that continuously made the following statements … you know who you are!
“I just wanna ask One question” (for the 24^th time)
“There are pockets of excellence in our funnel of excellence”
“No guys – lets look at the Bigger Picture here”
“I need to stand up …uugh … I just want to say …”