Dear Friends,

We didn’t win the bowling tournament this past weekend but your friends from Commerce Chenango certainly won the “Team Spirit” award! The entire staff participated in the Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce “Cabin Fever” Bowling Tournament this past Saturday, and we showed up, ready to … well … not win but certainly to have fun!

Personally, I had not bowled in a very long time. My friends and I used to be on a league back when our kids were little. For years the “Pink Ladies” would show up at Galaxy Bowl in Bainbridge for our Tuesday night bowling league for laughs, a few drinks and plenty of ‘Pink Lady Fries’ to go around. Most of us were average bowlers who once in a while had a hot streak. I was less than average, and back in the early days my biggest goal was to avoid the gutter the best I could.

Despite our less than consistent bowling skills, we took the “team” part of this seriously. We had matching pink balls (personalized of course, as we feel strongly that your bowling ball should have a name), matching pink bowling shoes and a few variations of shirts over the years. Our primary goal was to have fun, and we did. We were loud, laughed a lot and drove some of the more serious bowlers a little crazy since we did not know the rules, etiquette, and the things that “serious bowlers” take seriously. To add to the pressure, scoring was done by hand, and our opposing team was always double-checking our scores to make sure we added right. We mostly did it correctly, but at times the double-check was appreciated. We approached bowling the same way we approached golf; don’t take it seriously and just have fun.

When I proposed to the staff that we join the Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce bowling tournament this year, they all agreed that it sounded like a fun. I was thrilled to dust off “Pancake” (my ball) and show up ready to see if I still had any of my skills tucked away somewhere.

The big surprise of the day was Brianna! Brianna, our quiet, shy, amazing receptionist and office admin who shocked us all with a series of strikes, right off the bat! Where did that come from?! The rest of us did ok; it was a no-tap tournament after all so the ability to get a strike (or fakey strike as Audrey called it) was a real possibility! I had a heck of a time explaining what “no-tap” meant to my teammates. They had never heard of it before and I did my best to explain, although not well. Even as we started playing, they said, “I don’t get it, but ok” and off we went.

Our team rocked that tournament.

Not for skill or high scores, but for the team spirit and encouragement we gave each other! Whether it was a strike, a spare, getting any pins at all and even for the few gutters along the way, the rest of the team was, clapping and shouting out encouragement.

Our end of the bowling alley was certainly the loudest! Thankfully, and with the luck of the draw, the team playing opposite us was also a lot of fun. They encouraged us, gave pointers, and there were knucks and high-fives all around. And what would bowling be without a little ribbing back and forth? Thanks to Karla, Garrett, Chris and Nate for not making us feel horrible about our skills (or lack of), for being humble about the number of Xs on your side of the screen versus ours and for just making the morning so much fun!

It meant a lot that not only did my Commerce Chenango crew want to do this, but that they spent a whole Saturday together, outside of the office.

Team building and encouragement is so important, and we have been finding ways to do this over the past few months. Back in December I closed the office for the day and took my crew to Destiny USA in Syracuse to try out an escape room. It was quite an experience and most of us had not done one before, so we had no idea what to expect.

The room we chose, even though it was only a level 2, was really hard! Before we started the attendant was explaining the ten different kinds of locks we could find and how each one worked. Yikes – what had we gotten ourselves into? It was stressful and a little confusing at times, but we figured it out together. Sure, we had to call for help once (although we all agree the clue was no help at all) and we needed a few extra minutes at the end, but we did it! Each of us had a skill that helped us solve the puzzles and that’s what it was all about.

When you are building a team, you need to find ways to utilize each other’s strengths for the good of the organization. It takes time, patience, communication, belief in what you are doing and while you won’t always like each other, you need to respect one another.

I highly recommend getting your staff out of the office and just have fun with one another for a day. There’s no better medicine than laughter and there’s no better way to get to know one another when trying to accomplish something together.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Be well,

Kerri

The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of any entity that this author represents.