Contractors Need Football Tactics
Football Teaches Tactics Contractors Need
By Eugene Peterson
It continues to amaze me that
there is a belief floating around
that fewer meetings
in a company
setting are
better. That
holding meetings
is simply a waste
of time that takes
away from productivity.
And
that a company
can be successful
without holding meetings.
On the other hand, you may
outwardly believe that meetings
are important, yet is that the message
you are telegraphing to others,
by your actions, when you are
not holding appropriate, structured
and meaningful meetings that set
the tone of your company environment.
In this case, your actions
are speaking louder than words.
One of my small pleasures in
life is watching a good college
football game. And fortunate for
me, there are some exceptional
football bowl games coming up.
The race to the top has been exciting
as outstanding teams demonstrate
how to win and in business
terms, become successful winners.
I like the fanfare, the rivalry
and delight in the physical competition.
I love to watch well executed
plays, listen to good commentary
and get very excited when I
see a team win because they know
how to function together to win.
There are simply some teams that
stand out, because everyone on the
team knows his role, what he is
supposed to do and where he is
supposed to be during the play.
From my observation, the
teams that win do an exceptional
job of:
Creating a vision of where they
are going and have the ability to
track their progress.
Set goals for the season – and
are wise enough to understand that
sometimes goals need to be
reviewed and changed.
Train and re-train the players –
in order to keep peaked performance.
And they hold meetings. Yes,
meaningful meetings, where they
review past performance, prepare
for new opponents, analyze
strengths and weaknesses and
come up with a game plan for the
upcoming game. On game day coaches remind and reinforce the team vision
and review the goals.
During a game, can you
imagine a winning team not
having huddles, or saying that
we are having too many huddles?
Obviously, huddles
have an important role in
communicating and coordinating
the team’s pending
action. Is it important to
know what the next play will
be?
Can you imagine eliminating
the half-time team meeting
where a SWOT analysis
(Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats) is held
and where the game plan is
reviewed and tuned?
Companies will do much
better when they follow the
example of winning football
teams. And that can be done
by:
Getting to know each
other. We do our best work
when we know the strengths
and weakness of our team and
each of its players.
Train and retrain and hone
our skills to razor’s edge perfection.
Commit performance and
values to each other, with
accountability.
And communicate by
holding “plan it, fix it, tune it,
and praise it” meetings.
The best meetings are time
sensitive, pre-planned and
have agendas with purpose.
Those in attendance have
either something to contribute
or something to learn.
Meetings satisfy the need for
the team to get real time information,
crucial to winning.
Meetings get needed and
timely information into the
hands of players and managers.
Good meetings are worth
their weight in gold. Improve
your profitability by taking
steps to see how you can
improve the qualities of your
meetings by making them a
meaningful tool that can help
you and your team WIN.