Positively Powerful Insights » Sports

Leadership – About Doing the Right Thing

DB — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:49:49 +0000

Lebron James, the All Star basketball player for the Miami Heat has had to endure relentless criticism in his career from journalists (who should know better) as well as fans for lacking leadership on the basketball court. This is how some people see it: James is too concerned with making the right play, trusting his teammates, being unselfish, and for not seeking to become the hero at the end of games, therefore he must lack the clutch or leadership “gene”. This is puzzling because the qualities that James does posses are precisely the attributes we believe are sure signs of leadership.

Leadership and what it means “to be a leader” is greatly misunderstood in 2012. We’ve begun to substituted the fairytale notion of the

team building

“White Knight” whose singular obligation is to show up in the last second and save us, our organization and communities at the end the game. We just love the narrative that surrounds the last shot, the fourth quarter drive, or the home run in the 9th as signals for the win. All of these are about good fortune and talent though not necessarily about leadership.

Nestled in this notion of the “White Knight” is our belief that we personally don’t have to take any responsibility for how we participated in the game, that doing the right thing or believing and trusting our team doesn’t matters. If the end game is so important, then why play the other three quarters? Because most organizations win in an unspectacular fashion – day to day to day, making the small wins that add up to the big one. Leadership, trust, genuineness and the desire to serve all needs to be present at all times.

Here are four keys to winning any game.

Preparation: In sports, the hours spent on the practice field, getting physically fit, watching tapes and learning about your opponent makes the difference. Same is true elsewhere. In the recently released “Game Change” (HBO Movies) the lack of preparation was sited as a major contributor to the difficulties that John McCain and his runny mate Sarah Palin faced in their 2008 presidential campaign.
Team alignment: The expression that your organization is only as strong as your weakest link is not a saying it’s the truth. Every one has to have the same vision, goals, mission and to be ready mentally when called on.
Execution: Knowing what to do and doing it are not the same thing. Do the right thing for the right reasons.
Open to Coaching: When you are in the middle of the game it is impossible to see what you are doing correctly or incorrectly. No one can afford to wait until the game is over to find out what they are doing. Call “time out” and get coached if you want to win.

Can LeBron James Do Anything Right? [LeBron James] (deadspin.com)
Top Ten Leadership Tips for Succeeding All Around (simmaliebermansinclusionblog.blogspot.com)
Game Change: Was Sarah Palin Worth the Risk? (Watch the Big Think Interview with Screenwriter Danny Strong) (bigthink.com)
Former McCain Strategist Steve Schmidt On Game Change: Notion Of Palin Being President Frightens Me (mediaite.com)
Leadership…We All Have A Role In It (positivelypowerful.com)

NASCAR Is A Team Sport

Joel Martin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:47:48 +0000

“The Great American Race” is supposed to have more fans in American than any other. I happen to love watching team sports – basketball, baseball, football and soccer — but I wasn’t yet an aficionado of automobile racing. A human being in a little car driving around the same track time after time after time… you get the point. Then I heard an announcer say, “the driver and his team”, “___ is keeping their crew intact” What’s this. Is there more to it than I realized? Duh. Had to learn more. What I discovered was that this was a team sport after all.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out this quote from Larry Foyt, team director of AJ Foyt Racing.

“We had a really good day of testing yesterday. It was a lot of long nights of hard work to get ready for this test as all the teams are trying to figure out this new car as quickly as they can. Our guys did a really good job as the ABC Supply car ran well all day. I love the communication going on right now between the driver and the engineers. Mike was really smart, pushed the car to where it needed to be but didn’t go over that fine line. We made some good changes and learned a lot about the car.”

The chief engineer is a leader. “A very important piece of the puzzle” … “interacts with our group” … “everyone has jelled very quickly.” Leaders bring people together. They empower them and create a team that works together well.

Here’s another quote that makes the point:

The most powerful tool a NASCAR driver has is his car — but his car wouldn’t survive even one race without the care it gets from the crew. NASCAR pit crews are sometimes called the unsung heroes of the sport. That’s because they keep the car (and the driver) going, but they often get very little credit. However, those who are in the know recognize that NASCAR crew members are an integral part of every NASCAR victory and are superb athletes in their own right.

Okay I get it. NASCAR is a team sport too.

Kenseth wins Daytona 500 after rain and fire delays (tsn.ca)

The NFL this Weekend – Lessons in Alignment

DB — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:43 +0000

When talking about team alignment, let’s not make it more complicated then it need be. Hyping it up with terms like “Buying In”, “Synthesized Collaboration” or the totally incomprehensible “To Achieve Clear Compelling, Strategic, Healthy, Productive and Purposeful Goals” heard by most participants in team building workshops as a “Blah Blah Blah” objective. Pictures are worth a thousand words and moving pictures (videos etc.) and people may be worth a million.

We point to the NFL Conference Champion games this weekend because it is usually the best weekend of football and one of the purest examples

Team Commitment Happens Before the Coin Toss

of team alignment we get to see in action. Most of us admire sports teams and football teams in this country have the most team alignment challenges you will likely encounter in any organization anywhere. Each game is like executing a one year strategic plan that has been compressed into sixty minutes, where feedback, collaboration, creativity and coaching happen in real time. When the team (all 45 players) takes to the field there can be no question about buying in or understanding the goal — which is always winning the game. The question is did they spend enough time working on their being aligned, do they know where they need to be when each play is called, do they know their role in every given situation.

Football and chess, the perfect game is a draw! There will be no draws this Sunday! There will be two champions this weekend (NFC and AFC) and these teams will have won because they were the best aligned. Sure some things will look like luck had a hand in the results of the game and we counter that with only people and teams who are the best prepared can benefit from luck.

Our company Triad West prepares corporate teams to be Aligned, let’s talk and see how we can help you.

Dr. Joel P Martin

[contact-form-7]

Future Olympian

Joel Martin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:02:57 +0000

This is Kaylah who at a very young age was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Without hesitating she said “an ice skater.” Well July 4th in Las Vegas, NV she won a gold medal in her division…with a lot of support and encouragement from her Mom, Dad, Grandparents, coach and likely “the village it takes to raise a child.”

With the challenges so many are facing, it is important for us to remember that there are large and small victories happening everyday. And this is a big one for Kaylah.

Imagine how it would be if every child on the planet could live her or his dream. It’s not easy but that is a mission I find worth working for. Dreams are precious. What is accomplished in reality is first envisioned in the mind of the men and women that I train, coach, and consult to. Here’s to the dreamers and all who support them.

Two Points! Coaching + Feedback.

Joel Martin — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:02:47 +0000

Can you imagine learning how to ski without a teacher? Bowling and not knowing how many pins you knocked down? Flying a plane without any instruments? Being in the basketball playoffs without a coach and without knowing whether the ball was going into the hoop? How frustrating that would be!

Lebron needed to know that that last shot went in the hoop and scored to win. “From 23 feet — matching his jersey number — James made a shot unlike any before in Cleveland history.” The press calls it a miracle shot and it was AND behind that shot was a lot of coaching and feedback. (What it takes to be a winning team is another hot topic.)

The score, instruments, coaches, and results are feedback. How much more effective would you be if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how it was that you produced the results that you did? Without feedback there is no learning. If you know this even when you don’t like what you get back, your chance of producing successful results increases dramatically. if you add a coach to this equation – that person you trust to give you input while you are in action, contemplating action, and re-acting – you accelerate knowledge, skills, and attitude adjustment. You’ll get you where you want to be faster!

As I coach my clients, whether it’s for growing a business, retaining customers, making a career change, succeeding in academia, making your personal relationships work, being a champion athlete, being a great Mom or Dad, if you want to be positively powerful, nurture and keep these beliefs about feedback:
• Feedback is a gift
• Feedback is information.
• If I don’t feel good when I get it, it might be just what I need to hear
• Feedback can save someone’s job, relationships, and life.
• When I give feedback, I am sincere and have the other person’s best interest in mind.

Nothing, not even feedback or a coach will guarantee you a win…but you’ll be a heck of a lot closer to one with it than without. Score! Read more about feedback, how to give it, how to receive it in HOW TO BE A POSITIVELY POWERFUL PERSON. by Triad West president, speaker, trainer, and coach Dr. Joel Martin.