My daughter plays competitive beach volleyball, so I have spent a lot of time sitting on a beach watching beach volleyball the past couple of years. My wife and I often bring a cooler full of snacks and drinks to enjoy while watching our daughter compete in day-long tournaments. *If you are visualizing being on the beach in sunglasses with a cool breeze blowing while kicked back under an umbrella snacking and cheering for your child than you are probably accurate. It is the best version of a being a travel sports parent you can imagine.
At one of our brutal weekend beach tournaments suffering under the previously described conditions (heavy sarcasm), my wife passed me a bottle of Diet Coke to enjoy. I quickly twisted off the top to enjoy a cold sip and it exploded all over my hands and arms. Whether or not she knew this would happen is still being resolved by our marriage counselor (joking, kinda). The point is that what I thought was a wonderful drink was actually a fizzy hand grenade, I just needed to take the lid off to find out.
The mindset of a leader can often be divided into two categories. 1) those that view their groups as a bottle of Diet Coke for their own enjoyment, or 2) those that view their groups as having explosive potential and they are responsible to twist the lid off. The mindset of the leader will really decide if they seek to keep the group bottled up or they take intentional actions to pop the top and allow the explosive potential out. A group that is led by an individual that desires to take the lid off of their potential will get lots of positive results. Here are a couple positive results of taking the lid off for your group:
1) A surprising high level performance from unexpected members
2) Highly skilled individuals that are highly engaged and inspired
3) A collective awareness from the group that the standards of performance are high
4) A willingness of all group members to stretch towards those high performance standards even during difficult times
Bringing the fizzplosion of a group out does not just happen on accident so here are three ways a leader needs to share so that the potential of the group does not remain bottled up:
SHARE learning - I'm a strong believer that leaders need to remain involved in formal professional development for as long as they'd like to remain a relevant influence on their team. The next step is to share the learning. Whether it's through emails, text messages, face to face meetings, or the formal organization of professional development experiences for the group; I believe leaders create a culture of learning by sharing their learning with their group.
SHARE the decisions - I was in the middle of coaching a fiercely contested varsity basketball game and we found ourselves down two points with the ball in our hands for the final possession. I called timeout and brought the group together. I looked at the five players that were in the game and described two ways we could go about getting a good shot to tie the game. I then said to the player, 'you decide, it's your team and your season.' I sent a very clear message that the success of the group is up to all of us, not just the coach. I have done that multiple times in my career and regardless of their choice, it nurtures a culture of ownership and the team responds by taking pride in what we are doing. Individual excellence precedes collective excellence but only if the individuals feel like they have some control of the collective results. Share the decisions and you'll get a chance to do the next recommendation.
SHARE the attention - Leaders get all of the attention, but it's what they do with the attention that will determine if their group reaches their potential. I wrote about how important it is to be a great deflector here. Sharing the attention is actually how a leader makes the spotlight grow brighter. Think about it this way, one birthday candle never loses its light by lighting other birthday candles. But by lighting other birthday candles it creates the spectacle that is a beautiful birthday cake. Leaders that light up others by sharing the attention create a beautiful spectacle and lose nothing along the way.
I wasn't very happy when that soda bottle exploded all over me, but any leader will be overjoyed with the results of taking the lid of the potential of their group. Share these three things with your group and watch them fizzplode!
Keep on, keepin' on, friends!
‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on being intentional about life in a way that produces great persistence. Read about it more here.
Comments
Post a Comment