by Ashley Andrus

I recently took 7 little boys to play laser tag for my son’s 8^th birthday.  As I was headed out the door my friend and team expert Nora Burns (who very politely declined an invitation to come along) said, “I suspect there will be some life lessons learned with this adventure…”  She was totally right.

It’s not so much that there are brand-new lessons to be learned, but the experience was a good, solid reminder of what you can accomplish with sheer, unstoppable energy and a “you’re goin’ DOWN, Mary!” attitude.  You don’t need a college degree.  You don’t need to have read all the latest business best-sellers.  You don’t even need a driver’s license.

Here are the 3.5 reminders I walked away with:

1. DON’T QUIT.

You’re going to get tagged.  So?  5 seconds penalty then you’re right back in it.  Your parents told you not to quit.  Your high school counselor.  Your coach. Your teachers. Your best manager.  They were right.  Never-say-die doesn’t solve all problems, but it’s a pretty effective strategy for lots of real world endeavors.

Take negotiation.  Remember how you used to negotiate when you were a kid?  The high-level G8 talks went something like this:

YOU: Can I have some ice cream?
MOM: No.
YOU: But dinner isn’t for an hour.
MOM: No.
YOU: Dad would let me.
MOM: No.
YOU: But it’s like 90 degrees out.
MOM: No.
YOU: Please?
MOM: No.
YOU: Please please?
MOM: No.
YOU: Mmmoooommmmmm.  Come on.
MOM: Ok but only because you are driving me insane and you have to eat it outside and you can’t have ice cream again for a week and if you ask me for anything else today you are grounded until you are 12 and I mean it.
YOU:  Deal!

When’s the last time you negotiated like that in real life?  When’s the last time you said, “Come on, life…hit me” then you took the hit, shook it off, and jumped right back in the deep end of the pool?

2. WORK AS A TEAM.

You’re little.  You’re less experienced.  Your target-to-body-mass ratio is way less favorable.  But when four of you stick together and stalk a larger target (say…I don’t know…a slow-moving adult in a strobe-lit black light laser tag maze), it’s easy to turn the tables.  Most likely, your prey will run away, making it easy for you to shoot her in the back.  Even if the prey chooses fight over flight, honestly, she can only hit one of you at a time, while the other three of you fire at will.  There’s something to be said for throwing a sheer mass of resources at a project.

And another thing: you don’t need to be best friends to work together as a team.  Heck, you don’t even need to KNOW the other team members.  Size up the situation: other kids you don’t know playing?  Well, of COURSE the kids are going to team up on the adults.  They don’t have to have been best friends since kindergarten to instinctively know how to work together.  Futurist and trends expert Warren Evans observes “a core competency of tomorrow’s workforce will be the ability to work with strangers.”   The world is changing.  You aren’t going to work with the same folks for the next 15 years.  You may not even work with the same folks for the next 15 weeks! The Shift Happens folks have a thought-provoking video entitled “Did You Know?” about the future of technology and tomorrow’s workforce that’s well worth the 5 minutes to watch.

3. FOCUS ON YOUR GOAL…

…but stay flexible enough to shift targets rapidly. During the laser tag games the kids utilized the patented Amoeba Attack Strategy.  Those of you who have seen young kids play soccer may know it as “swarmball.”  It goes something like this: Follow an adult.  Fire mercilessly. Hit the target, wait the 5 second penalty, shoot again, take him down again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Oops, adult escapes through the maze. Find new adult.  Return to step 1.

The main goal never changes: take down an adult.  But the specific target—the precise individual—changes.  That happens in business, too.  Your organization’s objective might be to deliver world-class service. To manufacture cutting-edge products. To find a cure for cancer.  The top-line goal and strategy don’t typically change very often.  The specific tactics and tools available to you do.  Make sure you remain flexible enough to shift from lane to lane, going 80 MPH, without running off the highway.

3.5 HAVE FUN.

Really, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?  When you’re little, you plan the theme of your birthday party. You know exactly where you want to have it and who you’re going to invite. You envision the whole experience, and it’s awesome.  You smear icing on your face and gorge on ice cream.  You make funny faces with your friends.  You blow out your candles and make a wish. You laugh. And then you grow up and you forget that you still have that control.  You get to choose your career. The people you hang out with.  The attitude you bring to the table.

And if those things aren’t making you happy?  It’s never too late to start a new game.

Ashley Andrus is President of Zoe Training & Consulting. Her passion is making HR folks and meeting planners look like *rock stars* by providing one-stop access to 90+ speakers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and consultants.