Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Hi Ian,
Thank you for creating this thread. It is a good topic and I, too, hope it doesn't get lost in the excitement of the competition season.

In my signature, one can read Andy Baker's quote. He said that to me during a conversation that he and I were having over my breakfast at the Alamo Regional a couple of years ago. The conversation was about growth and development in teams, regions, businesses, and life. It was an excellent conversation. I'm grateful for Andy's philosophy and attitude toward helping to spread excellence by getting the ball rolling wherever he is.

Getting the ball rolling.. I've kept my eyes on the ball. What I've learned by watching the ball is that it can roll in lots of directions. It can roll toward you or away from you. It can roll a strike or a gutter ball. But, the important part of the roll is the movement. By this I mean that the light really goes on when an individual or a team or a community or a region - realizes that excellence cannot be attained without help and support. Excellence cannot be confined to one way of doing things -> my way or the highway. Excellence will spread when the ball starts moving. The ball starts moving when we begin to reach out and ask questions, ask for help, realize that we don't necessarily have what we need to achieve our goals but we have resources that will support our efforts - if we use them. We also start the ball moving when we are willing to share our knowledge, experiences, expertise, and fun. When those two lights go on - excellence begins to spread. Like wildfire.

We've seen a wonderful example of spreading excellence just this season: 116's animation challenge. They didn't roll the ball - they picked the ball up and ran with it, acknowledging that the need for a place for those who value the animation award - still exists. They created that place. That is creating the opportunity for excellence to occur. By doing so, 116 is spreading excellence. Their excellence.

When we read the Woodie Flowers Award submissions and the Dean's List submissions, we often find that the mentors and students are being recognized for their dedication to spreading excellence. Often, the impact of their dedication is felt far beyond the boundaries of their team or even their community. That is when the ball is really moving, spreading excellence.

My advice is to keep your eye on the ball and watch it roll, helping to nudge it in the direction of excellence. Work with others and learn from them. Grow inspiration by committing yourself to a positive attitude dedicated to achieving realistic goals. When those are achieved - create more goals, then more, then more. Never stop dreaming. Many of our Hall of Fame teams - never stop dreaming, spreading excellence as they realize those precious dreams.

Jane

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

That'd be me. Raced since I was a young kid. Which year clued you in? We've had sailboat stuff on every robot I can think of since 2008.

Spoiler: You'll see a ton of it on our 2013 bot :)

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Kim's post is dead on. It's no coincidence that the most successful teams often have some of the most enthusiastic mentors & students that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Passion is infectious; it can be passed on through pure enthusiasm and excitement.

Be passionate about what you're doing in all walks of life. Try new things, meet new people, explore new ideas, and always show your enthusiasm for what you're doing. People that have the power to hire you, or to give to your team, or to help in you in any other numerous ways notice this quality.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

As a mentor, I suspect that I am not alone when I say that I would rather work with teams who

rather than teams who make excuses like

so it probably becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

After speaking with a lot of teams, especially the top teams, I have noticed that the first group all have the passion that Kim spoke of. I suspect that passion would lead them to do well whether or not they had help from "a crack team of genius engineers and managers and a robot bag filled with money to help them out every year". It just might take them a bit longer.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

So my team pointed out Wil's post to me today. Speaking for 2614 (team MARS), I think Wil Payne needs to update his signature to "Valuable College Freshman Volunteer!" To continue the metaphor, it is nice to have you aboard. Stay for the entire voyage.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

WOW! Reading through this thread, I have to say it is by far the most inspiring group of stories I have ever seen. :)

I'd love to sit here and read though the second half of the posts but unfortunately homework needs to be done sometime tonight.

What I really want to say to everyone here is THANK YOU. This community has been such an inspiration to me over my four years on my FRC team and I could Chief Delphi as one of the top reasons why I love FIRST (and why my own team has gained success in the past two years.)

The FIRST community is the best group of people to be around. I can't think of a more passionate and driven bunch. I am inspired by everyone here-- and I hope one day I can inspire others as my mentors and the FIRST community has inspired me.

-Anna

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Two books I think pertain to this discussion

Tribal Leadership: This was recommend by someone else on these forms and it's fantastic. You can see the different stages of organizations inside different FIRST teams. Every elite team I know of is at least at level 4, some hit 5 very regularly. The audio book is free from Zappos.com. Here's the link. Might be a good listen while teams are traveling to away regionals.

Linchpin: This one is more directed at the individual but I find it's style very effective. Read/Listen to Tribal Leadership first but I like a lot of the ideas in this book.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Thank you for reminding me about Tribal Leadership. A few of us on 33 read that a couple years ago, because it was passed on to Ike. We in turn passed it on to others. It is one of the first books I read that helped develop my leadership and mentoring abilities. I feel the need for a refresher, and I think I'll reread it over the remainder of Comp Season.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Until the beginning of last season, we were a "decent" team that consistently made it into quarter-finals and went to Nationals once.

A couple of months before the 2012 season began, our long time mentor left us and we "acquired " a new mentor. This new mentor was a graduate from our high school who was on the team 11 years ago. After high school, he went to college becoming a mentor for another team who "practiced" excellence. He got inspired by the standard of their robots and their frequent trips to Nationals.

Our current mentor became a teacher at our high school, teaching a technology literacy class in 2011. After our old mentor moved, our new one took the reigns of our "decent" program and steered us to a different path. He showed us excellence and made us strive for it by passing his fervor to us students.

Since then, our program has taken off. Although the ball just started rolling last season, our team has dramatically changed. Instead of just dreaming, we actually create, break, change, and "perfect" our ideas before committing them to our robot. We now take the time to powder coat and anodize the robot, practice clean wiring, and choose parts that not only work, but add a level of beauty.

This change of path did not only affect our robot; the whole community seemed to notice. Since then, we have gotten more sponsors, more opportunities to go to events with well known people, and more satisfaction every time we see the surprise in people's eyes or a laugh from a kid who catches a ball thrown from our robot.

I used to be one of those kids who said "Pfttt... Those guys did not build their robot. Those kids just stood around while their money and their mentors did all the real work. Those kids just had extra time and practice to drive with their superior 'bought' drive system." Now I realize that those teams were superior not because of their "mentor built" robots or their money: They all had a fire in their belly that did not allow them to settle with "decent." Their money and mentors followed their success, due to the kids and their mentor who brought the message of excellence.

Although we, as a team, are not yet to the level of teams such as 1114, 254, 1717, or 330, I hope to be there when we "achieve" that excellence.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

This reflects what was said earlier by Kim. A visionary leader makes so much of the excellence begin.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Up until last year, Rebond Rumble, our team was just not a contender. We ranked in the 30s or higher almost every year and had yet to reach elimination rounds. I'm not really sure what changed, but suddenly we found success with #10 and #11 rankings last year in our regionals, and so far a #7 (top 8 :D) finish at Orlando this year.

Be certain, we are not heavily sponsored. Our school has really ramped up the engineering program and facility we use, but in terms of mentors and outside help, we don't really have a lot of that.

I think two things changed us. Simplicity and a good core group of students.

First simplicity. I feel like our whole robot in 2010 was riddled with motor driven acme-screws and slow, complex parts. Keep it simple! In 2011 we used a simple wheeled basketball shooter and sliding arms for the bridge. Nothing too complex, but still a good design challenge. This year, we've gone with the over-used two-wheeled frisbee shooter, and also a simple chain/sprocket 30-point climb. All of this works! No crazy contraptions or time-consuming apparatuses. We may not be getting a design award, but we're getting the job done and it's working.

Also, we've had a good core group of students who work hard. It hasn't always been a lot of kids, but when you have a handful that works hard and has dedication, things will work out.

I think any team can get into the top tier of FIRST. It may take a few seasons, but slowly any team can improve and start winning regionals and awards, etc.

Oh, and mecanum wheels are nice.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

And our main mentor is awesome.

Re: Excellence is Contagious -- But how did you start the ball rolling?
 

Excellence (if you can call it that for me) stems from...in my case...a lot of hard work.

Example: in 2009, I was one of the three students who built our robot in three days. We planned on taking a little more time than that, but between the snowpocalypse in Philly, and some other team politics (which I hated), it was T-3 days to ship day, and just a driving base with an intake. Our lead mentor had just joined the team three weeks ago, and being an EE, he wasn't too familiar with the mech aspects of the robot. Thanks to the senior class of 2008 for teaching us the ropes, and some hard work we had a robot that was fully functional the morning before ship day. It happens to be the only 304 robot with a picture on CD Pic

This was one of the most exhilarating and teaching experiences I've had, as a student and possibly as a mentor. To, in three days, take a drivetrain and make what some considered was the second best defensive robot at Philly that year. It all happened with a lot of hard work.

That's excellence for me. My rookie season (2008) was a learning experience. My next year was when it really got slammed into gear. A lot of hard work and dedication. I hope it's something that's rubbed off on the team I'm mentoring right now, they are an awesome group of kids. :)