The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is happening this week in New Mexico. What started in 1972 as a modest gathering of 13 balloons launching from a shopping mall parking lot has grown to be the largest hot air balloon event in the world.
Nearly 600 balloons now launch from a 78-acre field (the equivalent of 54 football fields) within the massive 365-acre Balloon Fiesta Park.
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta attracts hundreds of thousands of guests annually. It isn’t only the largest ballooning event in the world, it’s also the world’s most photographed event, and America’s largest annual international event of any kind.
Good teammates are like hot air balloons in two ways:
1. They lift people up. Good teammates use their positivity to raise the spirits of the discouraged, disheartened, and depressed. By offering encouragement, dispensing hope, or providing—when necessary—levity, they ease the pain of difficult times.
Nothing is more comforting than the unyielding support of a good teammate.
2. They provide a birds-eye perspective. Getting caught up in the minutia—the small, trifling details—can prevent individuals from appreciating the full scope of an issue. When you focus solely on the challenges of your role, you risk missing how it contributes to your team’s overall objectives.
By encouraging others to take a step back and see the bigger picture, you help them spot overlooked connections and value alternative perspectives, which both lead to better decisions.
Good teammates are also different from hot air balloons in two ways:
1. They are not full of hot air. Some individuals are more interested in hearing themselves talk than providing anything meaningful. Their words are inflated with self-importance, often lacking substance, evidence, or truth.
A good teammate’s words can be trusted because they aren’t exaggerated or spoken with ulterior motives.
2. They are not scary. Visual height intolerance affects about one-third the population, making it one of the most common phobias. If you’re not comfortable with heights, a hot air balloon ride can be terrifying.
By smiling, speaking in a friendly tone, offering compliments, expressing interest, and appearing genuinely approachable, good teammates put others at ease.
Practicing awareness, especially self-awareness is crucial to being a good teammate.
Superman may have made the expression “Up…up…and away!” iconic. But it was Pixar’s iconic balloon movie Up that immortalized the expression: “Adventure is out there.”
By being aware of how good teammates are like hot air balloons, and how they are different from hot air balloons, you keep your team’s adventure from being a misadventure.
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
