SPLEET BROKE ME
SPLEET broke me…
… only to put me back together. I have used the word team in a very loose way all my life until now!
For the longest time, I’ve always sought to be part of a team, some were more bad than good, nonetheless, I have always craved it.
I would like to believe it’s the human in me for longing connection with likeminded people, but what happens when you often don’t fit in, or when you feel like you are always the problem within the groups? Well, you end up being alone!
I have had variations of teams or groups growing up. From the all-girls friendship with my church friends to the primary/ secondary/ university friends, neighbours, work colleagues, to my personal partnership.
Retrospective Friday
The Friday we chose for the team bonding just so happened to fall on the same day as the team’s retro. I’d like to believe the stars were aligned for the SPLEET’s team.
We had an intense team retrospective {retrospective is looking back on or dealing with past events or situations.}. As the agile queen of SPLEET, I facilitated this retro, where we all looked back at the past two weeks and talked about how we were all feeling in regards to the recent increase in workload; working in a start-up is no joke, I can only imagine how the founders feel, talk less of doing so in Nigeria!
The bimonthly retro, which was planned for an hour, lasted three hours. Our retrospective is a safe place where we can all pour and offload respectably without anyone wondering if their job is on the line, this is an integral to the way we work at SPLEET.
This was a very successful retrospective. Using sticky note (posit), I mapped out each team members’ success and frustrations and how to mitigate them. Once this was completed we got ready for the canopy walk… oh, the dread!!!
Canopy Walk.
In the waiting area of Lekki Conservatory where monkeys greeted us; this should have been my cue to run back to the office but no!!! I was trying to be a team player.
I have always had Acrophobia but never knew the fear for height had different levels. When Dolapo (CEO) asked me to put some time in the team’s calendar for the canopy walk, I was like oh okay, that sounds dope, but then I was like ah, excuses me, but what is a canopy walk? Now, understand that all I heard and understood this to be was a bunch of people walking under a massive canopy, eh duh! Upon speaking to my team members, a few of them were not up for it too as they also had fear of height, trees, moneys and what not; at this stage I thought it cannot be that bad, I controlled myself from looking it up so as not to be discouraged, like what the hell was I actually thinking?
Any hoo! The tickets were bought and we made our way to the canopy, now you need to understand that I thought the walk had started when we walked the long wooden footbridge, only to find out that the footbridge led us to the actual canopy. So I gingerly continued walking like the real MVP I am (MVP not the product but the most valuable player lol.)
When we got to the start point of the canopy, I got confused, now, understand that I am the advocate of team bonding, applying start-up/agile methodology in a start- up and all that good stuff, surely I could not chicken out of this bonding activity, not when I was so close.
We divided ourselves in sets of two, I was in the middle and I thought, ha, what the hell, I can do this, the problem is I was already halfway down 1/5 bridge when I started to scream, I cannot do this, the team was singing, you cannot turn back, you can only go forward. Getting to the rest point of bridge, I noticed the tears rolling down my eyes.
At this point, Dolapo and Daniella (Business Development Manager) — noticed I was shaking so they huddled around me trying to calm me down; boy oh boy was I scared. Going back to the starting point myself, with the trees and monkeys what a terrifying thought, so I pushed forward. The moment I stepped foot on the 2/5 bridge, I had completely frozen, I was trembling and was struggling to put one foot in front of the other, I was bent forward in so much fear and I was screaming at the top of my voice. Dolapo and Daniella, superhuman of SPLEET, decided to be my anchor, Dolapo was in front of me walking backwards on the canopy, while Daniella was behind me, I wish I had a video of how loud I screamed and cried, I was so terrified that I believed I was already dead. The last time I felt fear like this was 2 years ago.
But something special happened on that canopy walk as I was staring into the eyes of my CEO who was repeating words such as one step at a time; you got this gurl; we are here with you; you are nearly there, Daniella, saying I am proud of you Viv and rubbing my back. As I was fearfully walking, I thought of all the pain, anger, frustration and disappointment in my life and the past few years, I yelled without any fear of who could hear me and started to let them go. By the time we got to the 3rd bridge, I was walking faster, still petrified but there was a growing confidence in my Anchors. I recently learnt I don’t trust people but this Canopy walk showed me how to, I had to trust the person who was guiding me, I had to stare into the eyes of my CEO and believe he will direct me to safety.
By the end of the walk, I found a new type of respect for the SPLEET team, if I could be supported, the fear was listened to and I was pacified to safety, I was confident in my choice to work for SPLEET. Thanks to Dolapo and Daniella, I beat my fear (not sure I am going on the walk again though), I did the impossible, trusted people I have only worked with only 4 months. When people say that you should only look ahead and never look back or get distracted, for the first time, I truly practised this because the only way I would have ever gotten down from the Canopy was by looking at Dolapo and following his lead. I feel blessed to be lead by such a great company.
When we finished the walk, we went to the park, relaxed with fresh coconut drinks then went to get dinner were we unwind and had dinner together like a family.
written by Vivienne, Product Manager SPLEET
