It’s no secret that #TeamGB are currently rocking the Olympics, and folks are using that success to post a rash of ‘Olympics and work’ stuff. Some examples I’ve seen include, ‘Follow Jessica Ennis’ seven Heptathlon steps to payroll management paradise’, ‘Give your team double barreled names and a horse and watch them showjump to excellence’, and my personal fave, ‘Grow sideburns like Bradley Wiggins and time trial your way to promotion in less than a month’. But don’t worry, for though this be a post about gaming and work, it has nothing to do with The Olympics.
I’ve teamed up with the good people at Trainer’s Kitbag to facilitate and deliver their products, and in conjunction with David Goddin we’re running the second open day for The Property Trading Game, in London on September 12th. Based on the classic board game of property trading, rent and chance, our Property Trading Game is different in that the participants compete around the city to see who will get the most points.
The game is great for challenging your understanding of how teams work, and it’s also been used for Leadership Development and Resilience Development. Lots of people have played the game and found it useful and enjoyable, and that’s a pretty powerful combination. So if you would like to give the game a try and see how well it could work for your teams, you can click here and grab your ticket to the open day for £350. I hope you can join us.
Last year, as part of my emerging experiment with painting, I tried my hand at making my own postcards. Six of you got in touch and responded to my offer to paint you a postcard, you can see the results over at my Learning To Paint website (the postcards are among the earliest entries).
As the holiday season looms large again I’d like to repeat the experiment, assuming you’d like to join me that is? To take part, all you need to do is get in touch so we can exchange a few details. I’ll basically need an address for you in order to post the card and that’s pretty much it. You just sit back and wait for me to hit the Costa Del Sol and see what inspires me. This is a first come first served freebie and I reserve the right to close the list at any time. This giveaway is being offered elsewhere too and I don’t paint very quickly!
Folks last year seemed to enjoy receiving their cards, I hope you will too.
Update: The postcard offer is now fully subscribed.
The Olympics are here, and what a weekend it’s been. On Saturday around a gazillion people gathered on some narrow Surrey lanes and various parts of London to watch the men’s cycling road race. Despite Team GB not being able to deliver Mark Cavendish to The Mall for his trademark sprint finish the day out was fantastic. As you can see from the picture above it was a huge party and everyone seemed pleased to be a part of The Olympics and British cycling. Road racing can be great fun to watch and you get right up close to the action. The rush of air as the peloton flies by is really invigorating.
Bradley Wiggins tows Mark Cavendish around the Box Hill loop
On Sunday we went back to the Surrey lanes to watch the women’s race. When I say we, I don’t mean the gazillion people who took to the roads on Saturday, I mean….well by comparison, hardly anyone.
Where is everybody? Much smaller crowds for the Women's Olympic Cycling Road Race
Even the cycling club I belong to which encourages cycling for all and had done a super job building a huge gantry to house around 250 people on Saturday, could barely fill a tiny gazebo on Sunday. It wasn’t just Surrey where there was a big difference. Courtesy of Mervyn Dinnen, here are two views of the men’s race and women’s race going through Fulham which show pretty clearly the difference in crowd sizes. Some might argue that the women’s race was shorter which meant they came past our vantage point twice compared to nine passes by the men on Saturday, but the racing was just as exciting and of course GB went on to secure its first 2012 Olympic medal courtesy of the women’s cycling team and Lizzie Armitstead. The pic below shows Lizzie on the left of the picture looking cool and calm as the peloton rushes past us.
Lizzie Armitstead racing through the Surrey Lanes, Women's Olympic Cycling Road Race - London 2012
OK so this year we have our first ever British winner of the Tour de France in Bradley Wiggins, and Mark Cavendish is the current cycling world champion, but my heart sinks when I hear men saying stuff like ‘Nah, I’m not going to the women’s race tomorrow, it’s not as important as the men’s’. Doesn’t say much for inclusion and diversity, does it? That reaction and the lack of interest in the women’s race felt misogynistic, and it is certainly misguided. After the race, Armitstead said ‘The sexism I have encountered in my career can get quite overwhelming and very frustrating’.
Lest we forget, Nicole Cooke first won the women’s Tour de France back in 2006 and has a list of cycling achievements most professional men can only dream about. Emma Pooley is an outstanding climber who can also count world time trial champion among her many successes, and Lucy Martin is a bright future prospect. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Lizzie Armistead, silver medal winning Team GB cyclist.
Those of us who turned out to support the cycling team yesterday witnessed the British riders on their way to Team GB’s first medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games. That felt pretty important to me, here come the girls.
