It’s getting really close to the most important part of the year for all Year 12 students around Australia: exam time. It’s an anxious period, but a time when they know they have to bring their best to the table so they can be proud of their efforts, and get a positive start on the road to everything life can offer them.

I had the privilege recently of speaking to some of these amazing young people in country NSW. It was a really exciting time, I learnt so much, and I hope that the students did, too. They were fantastic; they really bought into the ‘be the best you can be‘ message, and they laughed and cheered their ‘teammates’ on.

I want to share with you two things that my presentation at that school really brought home for me: the power of teamwork and supportive relationships, and the importance of stepping past our fears.

I was in country NSW in the first place because I was facilitating a three-day leadership retreat for a company. I’ve worked with them for four years and have a wonderful relationship with the CEO. He’s a big advocate of blackbelt in excellence, so when I mentioned I’d like to present to the students at the secondary school (where he has a son in Year 12!), he was fully supportive and, like me, firmly believed that we could create a “wow” impact and add real value to this student group at this significant time of the year. He knew the school principal, approached him – and the principal thought it was a sensational idea!

The point is I couldn’t have got myself in front of those students on my own, without the power of my relationship with the CEO and his with the principal. When we surround ourselves with an encouraging team, whether we are students studying for exams or salespeople alone on the road, it makes all the difference. And I hope I was able to make a difference, even just to one student, who will knuckle down now for the exam period and get into a course he or she might not otherwise have got into. That will make the CEO and school principal’s (who was so encouraging of me and a great sport!) efforts to get me there at such short notice absolutely worth the effort.

You have to “get into the game”, but we are capable of so much more, so many more amazing achievements, when we are supported and encouraged by a team. And that was one of the key messages I took to the students. I also shared with them other key blackbelt in excellence themes such as:

• the one-per centers, like getting up 15 minutes earlier and going to bed 15 minutes later as exam time approaches;
• excellence is an everyday thing they can take into their exams and the rest of their lives;
• not focusing on what they haven’t done, only what they can do now;
• the little steps to excellence are easy to do and easy not to do; and
• using their time productively without forgetting to keep exercising and eating properly.

And they were excited and enthusiastic about putting these messages into action! But all these things are much easier to do if we do them together.

I encouraged them to make sure they have a support crew that will keep them accountable for all their steps towards excellence, who will keep encouraging them when they feel like giving up, who will share ideas with them (and who they can share plans and ideas with, too). We can do amazing things when we have people around us who care for us and support us. And, best of all, we can conquer our fears.

At the start of my presentation at the school, I asked for six volunteers from amongst the students to come up on stage and break a wooden board with me. There were no takers. They felt uncomfortable about the idea of getting up and having a go. But an hour later, after they’d been inspired and they’d started encouraging each other, I could have got the whole room on stage! The six kids that did volunteer, three boys and three girls, all broke their boards to the thunderous applause and cheering of their teammates.

It’s so much easier to get in the game, get past our fears, move out of our comfort zones and into our achievement zones, when we are encouraged and backed by an enthusiastic support crew! A sure-fire method not to be successful is to not have a go. You can’t break a board, start a business, improve your relationship with your kids or do an amazing effort on your exams if you sit back, stay out of the game and don’t have a go! But if we demonstrate that courage to have a go, that tenacity to break through the fear, what’s the worst that can happen? The only failure is not trying to succeed.

All of the kids that broke those boards said later that it was easier than they thought it would be. They didn’t let their discomfort get in the way of achieving their goals. And a big part of that was because everyone in the room supported them. They were held up there and motivated on stage by the encouragement of others!

We can all be that encouraging voice for each other. In our businesses, in our families, in our teams. And, once we surround ourselves with that cheering support crew, we can all benefit from being encouraged to push past our fears, focus on our big picture goals and achieve more than we ever thought possible.

Who will you bring into your team today? Who will you encourage? I look forward to hearing – and sharing – your stories of team success.