The game is the winner

Photo Credit: Jacinta Cubis

Fist pumps and rallying cries don’t motivate me on the tennis court. They have the opposite effect.

We were having a great game of doubles one Thursday evening until my partner started channelling Lleyton Hewitt. It went downhill from there. He was disappointed that we didn’t win. I was disappointed that the magic had disappeared from the game.

I really don’t care about the score. Giving my opponents a good game is more important.

This is a bit like what lies behind my belief that the process is often more valuable than the outcomes of any workshop.

In community engagement, it’s the connections made between strangers. The social capital built between a local council and the community it serves. The number of decisions made can be counted. It’s harder to put a value on the trust that’s been built.

For team days, it’s having a better understanding of how people think, of what’s important to them. I’ve seen these serve teams longer any action written on a whiteboard, as vital as that action may be.

I’m not saying that outcomes are not important. Of course they are. But not to the detriment of a process that can produce intangible results that can’t be counted.

Be (fl)awesome!