Friday, September 2, 2011

Fraternity Rush and the Law of Harmony


I like to start stuff! It probably started with the Legos I played with as a kid, before the days of kits with pre-designed models.

Early in my college experience I had the opportunity to start a chapter of the largest fraternity in the country. I jumped at the chance to create something new on our campus. It was a great experience that taught me many lessons of launching a new business.

The most distasteful part of the process, however, was fraternity rush. It was not the rushing part where each house is vying for their share of the incoming freshmen, so much as the vetting; sorting through the potential candidates to determine who would receive a “bid” or an invitation to join and who wouldn’t. Passing judgment on each rushee was a painful process.

As time has passed since that experience, I have come to appreciate more and more the rush process. It is very similar to hiring and building a team in your organization: generating potential team members to interview, screening, interviewing and then determining who you think will be the best fit for your team.

What you are looking for is the right “fit” because you know if the person you select is the right person, you tap into the Law of “Harmony” or the Law of the MasterMind which says: Two or more minds joined together in harmony form a third mind more powerful than the sum of the parts.

Harmony is a critical ingredient of “health” and growth. When there is harmony of purpose and process, there is momentum and progress. When there is disharmony, there is “dis-ease” and lack of progress.

I was in two offices yesterday that had just finished their best month ever. It was very evident why. There is a spirit of harmony in each where team members support team members and everyone is working in harmony to help each other accomplish the practice and goals. There is momentum because there is harmony, that allows for laser like focus on the unified purpose.

So if there is “dis – ease” in your team, ask yourself to what degree you have a unified purpose and harmony toward the goals you have set. The movement and momentum you experience toward your goal may very well be determined by the harmony you have on your team toward your unified purpose.

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