Now the title may probably sound like a bad Lars Von Trier film, but make no mistake RRcamp 10.1 for the chief directors was a rough round, it was far more emotional than watching a Von Trier film. In May 2010, the chief instructors got the first indication of being able to participate in a Ryugi/Ryuha camp with a focus on leadership development. During the summer, the final invitation came and in mid-August 2010, we were supposed to meet at the Hilton hotel in Malmö, for a Ryugi/Ryuha camp that would put certain things into perspective.
Hotel Hilton is located in the center of Malmö with approx. 20 floors that provide a fantastic view on a clear day. The two days we spent at the camp were clear in many areas - which several of us became aware of before the first hour of the camp had started. We had been told to meet at 13.00 at the reception wearing fitness clothes. Which can only mean one thing – physical display. I was not disappointed.
However, I must say that when you put a fitness center on the 20th floor, more should be done with the view from the cardio machines. Sitting on a rowing machine and watching your training colleagues sweat like pigs is not exactly the most motivating sight you can get. So it's a good thing that someone like me is short-sighted and can only be influenced by the sounds that penetrate one's own sound barriers, which mostly sound like a bellows with a hole in it.
After the first physical displays of the camp, it was time for Ryugi and leadership development. After a brief review from Kimu Sensei, of the time spent on Shindenkan work versus everything else, and a self-recognition from ourselves that we were all selfish, spoiled brats (our own interpretation, others could probably come up with something worseJ) it was It's time for our first task.
"Give direct, honest and concrete feedback on your colleagues' results or lack of same according to various selected topics".
So for that, now we had to show what we thought of each other's abilities and the results we had achieved. Now we have trained together, for up to three decades and now all of a sudden we had to tell each other about the strengths and weaknesses. It is probably very popular in the business world, but here we sit, 6 men who have cried, bled and sweated together in quantities that would make a Tsunami look like a quiet trickle from Kirsten Pil's spring. At least that was the first thought that entered my head. But when we had subsequently come all the way around, I have to admit that there are no other people in the whole world who will be able to tell me the truth about myself than the 5 who were present in that hotel room in Malmö.
They will also be the only 5 people I will be able to believe the most when they told me about my strengths and weaknesses. And why now that. Yes, it's quite simple. These are people who know me better than my better half, these are people who have seen me in the pressured situations where you show your true self and these are people I would put my own life in the hands of if I had to stand in a sharp situation.
After the hour of truth, it was time for a look at the Swedish food places. Kimu Sensei who had organized that camp had found a place in the city that required a good walk. Which was quite nice, since at that time we had been sitting down for quite a few hours. Now it wasn't just the legs that got the pleasure of being aired. As there happened to be a town party, probably a crayfish feast, the town was teeming with people and in some cases very nice people, causing the eyes to become slightly larger and more focused than usual. There was probably one of us who tried to get them to look their separate ways, just to get it all in.
A good dinner followed by a good trip through the city provided energy for another thorn. Back in the hotel room where we worked, it was time for a review of the strategic plan 2010-2015(20). The night was young and at some point wine appeared. Good red wine from Tuscany imported directly from a local winegrower.
"Now we're going to have fun and drink up boys - you need it" said Kimu Sensei. At first it sounded a bit creepy and I already had thoughts in the direction that we would have to train with an alcohol per thousand above the 2, but we later realized that it wasn't that bad after all. When the clock passed midnight it was time for the next task.
Everyone had to prepare a status of where they were with their schools according to the 5 KPIs, what goals they had for the future according to the set KPI requirements and how they wanted to do it. The presentation was to take place the next day at 08.00, which was after breakfast.
Hoof-hoof, the adult participant from I-course 3 will probably say. 5 KPIs it doesn't seem to fit, there were only 4. on the course. Yes, that is correct, but like everything else in Shindenkan, things evolve. And so do the KPIs. The 4 KPIs that we know from I-course 3 are tools that must be used to keep track of the school's status and development. The 5 KPI deals with management development.
If the individual school's management team does not develop, they cannot develop the school either. It is completely like the relationship between instructor and student. If you do not develop as an instructor, you cannot develop your students either. The same applies to employees and managers and, for that matter, also to parents/children. It's all connected as links in a chain. You are not stronger than the weakest link and if the function that holds the ends of the chain together does not work, then the chain's task will be zero.
We each got started with our laptops and agreed to hold a joint meeting at 01:30 in the study. At that point I had been awake since 05:00 the day before, but didn't feel particularly tired. It was as if the focus on the task kept you up. After the joint meeting and approx. 3 more hours of work, I had come so far that I thought it was time to sleep a little.
When it was my turn the next morning to present Jokokan Amager's status and future, things went ok at first. I came to the conclusion that we at Jokokan Amager had a foundation for development. Not a particularly large foundation, but it was there. So I started to talk about what goals I had for the school and then had to start explaining how I wanted to achieve them.
"The school's goals for 2010/2011: Expansion 72 % run campaigns that work as well as the creation of a satellite school, student retention 90 %, progression 90 %, leadership development 100 %".
It went well I thought, now it was on to the next slide in the powerpoint show, until Kimu Sensei asked: “How will you achieve these results?”
I was not exactly prepared for this, so my brain went to work to find an answer that would be acceptable. Before I found it, the next question came.
"How do you want to develop your leaders?"
At that point I realized that there was something wrong with my presentation and I became increasingly angry with myself for not being able to find a satisfactory answer, despite it being right in front of me. At the same time, I was being poked in a way that made me so desperate to come up with a correct answer that it made me look like a duck paddling around in a desperate attempt to get away. I felt as if I was going down a hole and the more I tried to climb up, the further down I fell because my attempts were not concrete enough.
In essence, it was about me at the time of day when one's sleep level was approx. 1-2 hours which had taken place in a room with the sound of a sawmill, had not made it clear to myself how the results were to be achieved. "That's what we're talking about," I thought. Yes, yes, but you can't talk about results that require action, and it must be concrete and direct action, not diffuse and unfocused talk.
Even though I had started to sweat cod liver oil like a pig and gradually got the same pink color in my face, it was a lesson in being ready and prepared for good planning if you want to achieve results. So after being grilled, I was tasked with producing a leadership development plan for my leadership team at school. The deadline would be 2 days later.
The rest of the camp focused on how the strategic plan for 2010-2015(20) would develop in several areas. As we neared the end of the day it was just time for another visit to the gym and I must say that this time, I enjoyed the trip to 20 more floors.
Despite 26 hours of concentration, the trip to the gym went well – if I do say so myself. I was going on the exercise bike and the view was far better than it was from the rowing machine, because the bikes faced a window so you could look out over the city roofs. After a late check-out around At 15.00 we just had lunch before the trip went back over the Øresund Bridge.
The result from my first RRcamp has been that I have been guided in a direction that will require self-knowledge and action in order to create the results I want to create.
This type of training is difficult to take in if you are not in the mood for it. But if you are, you can go a long way in your own development. You can go from being a selfish jerk to being a boss.
