Let me begin by stating that, until last night, it has been roughly thirteen years since I have played the game of bridge. At the time, I considered myself a decent player, understanding the mechanics of bidding and playing cards to capture tricks, all with the goal of earning points. That all changed yesterday night at the all new Chicago Bridge Meetup.
As I was being reintroduced to the game, I realized I was sitting with serious players when they began to talk about conventions. Once I realized that they were not talking about trade shows, I found out that there were so many more idiosyncrasies to the game of bridge than I had ever imagined. Did you know that unlike euchre, which prohibits table-talk, bridge not only allows a version of table-talk through the bidding process, but actually sanctions and encourages said process? In one night, I found out that you can communicate to your partner (and opponents) how many points you have in your hand, what your strong suit(s) are, where you may have voids and even how many aces you hold, all by "responding" to your partner's bid. I think I held my own, although I still have yet to make heads or tails of the scoring system.
Corporations that want to increase the effectiveness of communication between project team members, sales teams or managers would do well to require them to play bridge and explore the convention systems. By practicing the communication methods in a rigorous game-playing environment, professionals can apply the techniques into their jobs, embracing new ways to communicate more effectively.
Special thanks to John for organizing the Meetup and to Kate and Rebecca for making our foursome such a wonderful group of card players.
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