When goals get in the way....

I've just come back from phase 1 of a management development programme we are running for a multinational client. Part of this programme was for the teams of managers to create a theatre performance. I'm sure that many of you will have come across variations on the theme.

What was most interesting was that my team were incredibly focused on their goal - the performance, determined and structured. By the end of the first day they were way ahead. They had planned the whole thing, and were even writing specific lines.

Meanwhile, at 11am the next day (the performance was planned for 6.30pm), one or two teams didn't even have a theme sorted out.

The performances were judged on a number of criteria, chosen by the "festival committee" with reps from each team. As well as the business message etc, on of the criteria was audience reaction (noise).

Which team won?

Certainly not mine. While fairly clever and well structured, their "play" simply had no theatre. There was no creativity, no fun. They even took making people laugh too seriously. They were, however, clearly focused on their "goal". Sure, maybe they could have defined their goal better, but even if they had set out with the goal of making people laugh, they wouldn't have succeeded. In the festival committee meeting they also guarded their idea, and were holding on so tight to their idea that although they were clearly supposed to work together to put on an evening's entertainment with a coherent message, they wee extremely reluctant to adapt. They had also lost sight of the fact that this was a learning experience, and they didn't take any real personal risks.

To be really creative you have to be prepared to put the goal to one side. Have some fun. Kick things around for a while, without being preoccupied by making progress. The team that won in the end put together a reasonable enough play in terms of content, but it wasn't strong. But, they played to the crowd, got everyone involved, and had a whale of a time.

At the end of it (I wasn't allowed to help them with their content), we had a short debrief and it didn't take long for the penny to drop. Hopefully in future when they need to be creative they'll be prepared to take their eye off the goal, at least for a few minutes.

In sport you have to be creative too - whether creating an opportunity to score in a team sport, or simply finding a new way to go faster (which although is a goal, staying focused on the goal isn't likely to be a source of inspiration).

Any thoughts on why the England football team so often struggles to inspire?

Rob Robson is a Sport Psychologist and Business Consultant based in Warwickshire, UK who specialises in helping individuals to and organisations to achieve high performance.