On a warm November Sunday, after donating blood and platelets in the morning, I sat down to watch the Bucs at the Bills and relax. Just sitting and watching the action, as opposed to having the game on while doing something else, reminded me of the impressive strategies that can go into a game.
The Work You Don’t See
For me, watching football means our father is spending Christmas with me and my sister in Wisconsin. While browsing books and magazines, we would relax with a game (and red wine and cashews). Not knowing the rules then, I could appreciate great plays, but I couldn’t always see the strategies behind them. These days, however, I’m better versed in the sport. As the announcers become excited and we see sketches of well-executed plays, I can imagine the work involved in writing and learning the playbooks. Winning is not simply about the repetition of certain tasks – it’s about sizing up the conditions and deploying the correct strategies to gain competitive advantage while everyone executes the called plays.
Trusting Your Players
Regardless of how much credit the coaches would like to take, they know their success is dependent on the players working under their direction. Like any successful business, workers and management have to collaborate. They literally have to be on the same team, and respect needs to flow both ways. Barking orders without appreciating what individuals bring to the table may win you a few games, but you’ll never have the success needed to reach the Super Bowl.
Turnovers or Touchdowns
Typically, when people talk about “lessons” from sports, they focus on teamwork. But, we also need to remember that a team can only produce good work if it has a good plan to implement. If you think your team is underperforming, ask yourself this: does the team have good direction? Is the playbook up to date and has everyone been given an opportunity to learn it? Are the failures really the fault of the players?
In sports, we love the excitement of unexpected turnovers, and we don’t envy the player who fumbled the ball. We prefer to identify with winners and revel in our team’s successes. But, when your team fumbles, are you willing to take responsibility and dig deeper, to see if the underlying strategy needs to be fixed?