Just as an individual can self-Boot, a group of people can also adopt the Core Protocols together. This is called Self Booting a Team, or just Booting a Team. To do this, each member of the team that is interested in the Core tells the others that he or she will keep the Core Commitments. This means each team member can ask each other for help in learning and following the Core.
Voluntary
Adopting the Core must be completely voluntary! Do not coerce anyone to use the Core Protocols, as this won’t work – it will cause resentment or worse, and will eventually cost the team more later.
Learning the Protocols
Protocols that are easy and fun to adopt are Pass (Unpass), Check Out, Check In, Ask For Help, and Perfection Game. Decider and Resolution are also effective in small groups (7 or less is the best).
One approach is to work on one or two at a time, together as a group – for a week or two each. Once you feel comfortable with those Protocols, add another one for another week or two. Do this until you’ve practiced all the Protocols together.
As with many skills, you may notice that there are different levels of mastery. Using the Core over time in an intentional way yields deeper insights that will help you and your team grow.
Intensive Workshop
Another good technique is an intensive workshop. If you know someone who has been Booted – who knows the Core – ask them to come teach a workshop on one or several Protocols. This should heavily favor interactive exercises in small groups to practice the protocols. In an afternoon it’s possible to learn Perfection Game and Decider/Resolution, for instance.
If you don’t know anyone who has been to Boot Camp, just run a workshop yourself – ask on the mailing list for help! (See the Resources page for more information on how to subscribe to the mailing list.)
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