When your company is entering its version of the Super Bowl
"Champions don't show up to get everything they want; they show up to give everything they have." Anonymous
Super Bowl coming up for your team? A company version of a Super Bowl can come in many forms. Sometimes it’s a large project with a deadline and an unveiling which demands the focus and effort of the entire team. Or it can be a time of the year such as the Annual or Open Enrollment Period (AEP or OEP) where consumers can sign up or make changes to medical coverage. These periods represent significant revenue for many organizations – where they strengthen and or expand their offerings and achieve substantial revenue growth which allows them to survive and thrive in an ever competitive market.
Define your Super Bowl as it applies to your organization, the common themes being focus, intensity, overcoming obstacles (crises), and plain hard work to name a few. Super Bowl’s demand the very best in leadership. And this demand for great leadership begins well before kickoff. There is quite a bit to cover when you and your team are headed to a Super Bowl-like event. I would invite you to pick up a copy of my latest book in the “Battlefield to Boardroom” series, “Left and Right of the Boom. The Art of Leadership, Before, During, and After Crisis.” In it you’ll find time tested and combat tested concepts to help you, your organization, and its teammates perform at their peak and overcome challenges (Booms!) which will occur. Here are some leadership thoughts for your Super Bowl.
First to "Left and Right of the Boom." It was a concept born of our military experience with the Improvised Explosive Device or IED. IED’s were the primary killer of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. Left of the boom is where units conducted training and education to understand and outsmart the IED network and survive or avoid the blast altogether. The boom was where leaders were tested reacting to these explosions to capture or kill enemy combatants and prevent further injury or loss of life. Right of the boom is where units took a disciplined approach to learn from the blast and the activities of leaders and teams to ready themselves for the next IED.
Your left of boom or left of Super Bowl is where you rally your team for the ‘big game.’ While target metrics, revenue goals, and even monetary bonuses help, your team will be truly motivated by an inspiring vision – how you and your company imagine a future where everyone benefits. An example might be customers whose health and welfare are enhanced by the product or service you will produce. A noble and inspiring cause is another proverbial flag around which to rally. In my small business, our cause is to give back to our community supporting veterans and their spouses and promotion of the trades to name a few.
The importance of activities - of leadership in the left of boom or left of Super Bowl space cannot be overstated. The work done here, in the relative peace of the pre-game period is where you’ll ensure success (or failure) come game time. Again, there are many things to cover. Pick up my book to ensure success.
Communication is vital. How will you communicate during the Super Bowl? Talk to your team about how you best receive information and what your priority information requirements are – those bits of information which will help you make the most important decisions and keep senior leaders informed. Ask your teammates, “what do you need from me to ensure your success?” Tell them what you need from them. Prepare them for micromanagement. That’s right, micromanagement. As the intensity mounts, a deep dive by you into the details and activity of one or more of your teammates may be required. Tell them it’s not personal or caused by a lack of trust - that you’ll only do this to ensure the success of the mission. Tell your team how your leadership may change during the ‘game.’
After kickoff when you are moving the proverbial ball down the field against the typical friction, step up your leadership. Get in, listen, observe, take updates, fulfill your information requirements, pat your teammates on the back, then get out and examine the risks, imagine failures, find ways to exploit successes, and consider where you need to physically and mentally place yourself. Pump the brakes when you (or your teammates) smell failure and rally the appropriate people to discover problems, their causes, and solve them. Step out of the trench or pick your head up to see the bigger picture or see further down the road to where potential ‘booms’ may be. Know when your emotions peak – where you might overreact. Have a trusted teammate help you identify this behavior in you. Deliver the big picture to your people. Give them the ‘why’ often and return to the vision, cause, and mission to refresh everyone of ‘why we are here,’ and ‘what we are doing.’ Celebrate small wins but refocus the team often.
Your Super Bowl may be big or small. Lives may or may not be at stake, but livelihoods are and that demands the same leadership approach I applied on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope that you and your team can raise a Lombardi-like trophy above your heads when your Super Bowl is complete. When it is complete celebrate wins and review challenges and failures – get right of the boom (Chapter 6). You and your team will be victorious in the end.
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell