Team Curaçao – A Model for Collaboration

Willemstad – “The one of us is not as great as the sum of us.”

With this in mind, a group of certified John Maxwell Team members in Curaçao decided to launch the Living Leadership Foundation (LLF). Up until then, a number of leadership events had been organized resulting in a great turn out.

 Now, some of you may be asking, ” Where on earth is Curaçao?”.

 Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela. The Country of Curaçao, which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao, is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of over 140,000 on an area of 444 km² (171 sq mi) and its capital is Willemstad.

The island has approximately 20 certified John Maxwell Team members. This team on the  island of Curaçao put aside the need to pursue their goals individually and decided to collaborate to get greater results. We asked them some questions so we can all learn from them.

 Why did you decide to collaborate?

“We decided to collaborate because we realized that we needed a team to achieve our bigger vision,” says President of LFF, Geomaly Martes. One of John’s quotes is: ‘Team work makes the Dream work!” You can only accomplish so much on your own. And this team has a big dream “Leading Leaders towards Significance,” through Transformational Leadership.

LLF had great ideas from the beginning and in bringing together a combination of strengths, the Foundation could ensure greater accomplishment and success when working on a project. Geomaly believes that: “One individual isn’t going to know everything they might need to. By collaborating with others in different areas of expertise, skills can be pooled in order to make the project more successful than it might otherwise be. Collaboration enables us to share skills and knowledge, which then strengthens our team.”

As every team member has a different perspective on things, new ideas to an event are often brought. “When you collaborate with other people, they see the angles that you don’t. This makes for a more comprehensive and creative event,” says Geomaly.

 What was the idea behind starting a separate Foundation?

The reason for launching a Foundation and not a company lies in the fact that a Foundation allows the team members to request sponsorships from companies. Sponsoring enables the LLF to tackle big, costly events. Geomaly: “ Most of us have our own company. In the foundation we get to work collaboratively on large leadership events, which we cannot easily organize on our own. Up till now we have organized 3 events: Chick Fil A Leadercast 2013, a ½ day leadership workshop and an event called “Reaching Your Greatest Potential” with Paul Martinelli, VP of Business Development the John Maxwell Team.

What makes such a collaboration successful?

Being open and drawing from everyone’s uniqueness and experience, as well as their strategic positioning. Each person has their own perspective that can bring new and fresh ideas to an event.

Often times we are able to view situations from many angles, but not all of them. When you collaborate with other people, they can see angles that you didn’t even realize existed. This makes for a more comprehensive and creative team and event.

 Success comes easily when everyone on the team is in synch with the vision and mission!

 What are the roles of the people involved and how have you organized yourself for success?

Each person on the team has a unique skillset and talent that add synergistic value to the Foundation as well as a unique and strategic positioning in our Community.

• Geomaly Martes serves as the President of Living Leadership Foundation and currently holds the position of Managing Director at S.O.A.B. (auditors for the Government).
• Simone de Brabander has her own business BridgeGaps B.V. and serves as Secretary on the Board. Simone is fully equipped to handle all of the marketing and consulting work.
• Judith Timber of Kooyman B.V. is the Manager of their Human Resources Department. Her connections and reach are far and great.
• Igorr Hieroms, of GR8 has his own consultancy and is a master at Project Management.
• Ralston Eric S. Bennett has LTI and is from Aruba.
• Barbara Leigh of Influential Energy is the Navigator and Visionary of the group.

When you are able to piece the puzzle together, weave everyone’s gifts into one, so that all the pieces fit smoothly together, then you can begin to have a picture of success!

What have been your major Triumphs and challenges?

A great question and a challenging one to share! Collaborating has not always been easy in the LLF; creating harmony within a group of leaders comes with challenges. “We have modeled what we would like to see our country simulate. If we are unable to meet this challenge how can we ask others to do the same?”

The first big achievement of LLF was to secure hosting rights for the high-profile “CFA Leadercast in 2013 – Simply Lead.” What we learned as a team through that process was significant! Even though it was our first time organizing it we accomplished hitting our goal in a very short period of time, the event was a huge success with more than 150 participants attending. A profit was made and a donation was given to the “Alton Paas Foundation” – LLF could celebrate this success and the fact that Alton Paas is now a John Maxwell Team member too. There are more great things to come from this young and ambitious gentleman!

Following the CFA Leadercast 2013, the LLF held a ½ day Leadership Workshop in   2013. And, last but certainly not least, the team hosted an event with Paul Martinelli: “Reaching Your Greatest Potential” and succeeded in getting 350 participants in the room.

Geomaly: “Paul had a killer offer that day for the participants. Many Mastermind Groups on the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth were formed on that day.” We are truly grateful for his presence in Curaçao and the new awareness he has left with our people!

1)      Always have options available and always have a back-up plan.
2)      Start early, be well prepared and finish confident.
3)      Hire talent where and when needed.
4)      Learn from your experiences by evaluating the good, the bad and the ugly!

 How has being on the John Maxwell Team contributed to this effort?

Simply said, if it were not for the John Maxwell Team, we would not exist! The John Maxwell Team (JMT) definitely contributed to the efforts of the Foundation. “As JMT’ers there is a strong backbone of like-mindedness, an alignment in leadership values, you can say, that allows us a measure of balance in all we do”, says Geomaly. “JMT empowers and equips us with high-powered mentoring, outstanding content and great confidence to make our vision, visible!”

 What more could a team ask for! Without vision, people perish. Work together and join hands on a journey of exponential growth to Lead Leaders towards Significance!  

 Connect with Living Leadership Foundation:  via their Facebook page or please contact Barbara Leigh at  http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/barbaraleigh for information.