Welcome to a new on going series that will attempt to look at winning in a completely different light. Our goal will be " to eliminate losing by reframing winning". What does winning really mean? What does it look like? Feel like? How do we know if we've won? Who gets to decide? Over the course of the next serval installments of this series we will attempt to answer these questions. We will narrow our focus on what winning means, redefine character, think about competition in a different light, reframe who our opponent actual is, and create ways to control our own experience all with end goal of creating a more fulfilling, rewarding, and enjoyable experience for you and your career. Thank you for joining us on this journey and we hope you enjoy Part 1 of this series on Reframing Winning.
In a recent Essential Coaching cohort session, one of our community members used the phrase “speed occurs at simplicity”. Another way you may have heard this is to, “prioritize speed” or heard before that, “speed kills”. Assuming these are all true, and we’d argue they are, to achieve said speed we must keep things simple. In other words, we must reduce both complexity and variability. These two concepts are staples of the Lean Six Sigma theory of consulting to achieve more efficiency in organizations and systems. Perhaps to put it more bluntly, KISS.
When it comes to prioritizing speed in performance, the concept is to eliminate the number of options for our players to process so they can get to the (correct) decision as quickly and accurately as possible. The more complex the situation, the more options exist and the greater the variance in what our players have to decide upon. Thus, there are more opportunities for our players to fail. That variance lies outside the (narrow) optimal performance zone.
Outliers, one could argue, are not always bad. We want to be able to predict and control performance as much as we can. Someone could outperform a given target, and though that’s rare, we want to reduce the need for that so as to not have to rely on those rare gem performances that may only occur once a month, season, or perhaps a career. When we are preparing our teams for competition, we are banking our gameplans on a largely predictable set of outcomes. Therefore the goal, to the closest degree, is to give our players the most consistent and controllable range of possibilities in a random and chaotic environment that is the flow of competition.
Of course, all our best laid plans will inherently fail at some point, so once again it is up to us to reduce the complexity and variability by creating a high degree of clarity and alignment for our players. As you should remember from our RACA Pathway blog series, (we know you read those at least once by now) clarity is the direction we give our players to our destination and alignment is the road home itself. When we can achieve these two steps and everyone is on the same (narrow) path (congruence), we are removing the potential for outlying performances. In other words, we are more likely to increase consistent, optimal performance for each individual and our team. Not just during one segment of practice, or one game, but day to day, week to week, season to season. The idea is not to win once. It’s to win consistently, where as consistency is the result of reducing that complexity and variability.
Now, let’s translate this into our daily coaching lives. This greater consistency then manifests itself into greater fulfillment. Imagine going through each day with a more secure sense of what is ahead. Fewer surprises. A straighter, less turbulent road. A happier, more fulfilling experience that not only sees more success on the field but in your personal life as well. More clarity and alignment within our program can equal more clarity and alignment outside our program as well. Isn’t that what we’d all like to be able to say we accomplished at the end of a long day? Even better, can you peacefully fall asleep without the worry of what outliers may be ahead of us tomorrow or the ones we are still dealing with from yesterday or today?
Figure out who you are. Figure out who you want to be. Figure out what kind of experience you want for yourself, your players, and your family. Narrow your focus and define that success. Reduce the complexity and variability of your day to day and prioritize speed. Get to coaching. Get to finally, living.
