3 Lessons business leaders can learn from NFL team leadership failures

The second annual NFL Players Association Report Cards were released yesterday, February 28, 2024.

Our beloved hometown Kansas City Chiefs ranked 31st out of the 32 teams, which is down three from last year. (Link to the Chiefs Report Card)

The team won the Super Bowl last year and earlier this month, yet their scores are at the bottom of the League.

What’s up with that?!

Here are three lessons for leaders who want to outperform the Chiefs when it comes to leading their teams:

1) The Chiefs players were promised a renovated locker room after last year’s poor report and Super Bowl victory, and all they got were chairs at their lockers. The owners did not follow through on what they told the team, according to the Report.

Lesson for leaders:
Follow through on your commitments. No excuses, especially when the excuses would be lame anyway.

2) The Chiefs gave the players chairs in 2023. It’s mind boggling to think the team’s owners thought benches and stools were reasonable for grown men in the NFL for 65 years, isn’t it?! They won the Super Bowl and went from stools to chairs with backs. Additional examples of insufficient resources revealed in the Report include players sharing hotel rooms when traveling for games, average weight room facility, and poor access to rehab and training staff.

Lesson for leaders:
Take care of your people. Don’t make them ask for reasonable things that would help them perform their jobs better. YOU should be looking out for THEM! Anticipate their needs and reward them for cool accomplishments instead of thinking, “I hope they don’t ask for equipment that’s better than Planet Fitness!”

3) The Chiefs team owner received an F- grade. The Report said it is for not investing in the facilities. The Hunt family does not invest in its team, and they do the bare minimum for the community, unlike some of the players. For example, after one person was killed and more than twenty people were shot at the celebration of the recent Super Bowl victory, the Hunt family and Chiefs organization they own joined with the NFL to donate a total of $200,000. Total. Between the three. $200,000. According to Forbes, the Hunt family is worth nearly $25 billion.

Lesson for leaders:
Dance with the one who brung ya. Show loyalty to the people who support you, cheer for you, and help you succeed. Do not just take from them; help them succeed too. If all you do is gouge people to get the highest ticket prices, parking fees, and tax cuts, one of these days, they’ll realize you’re not worth it. Competition is fierce, so don’t take the ones who love you for granted.

When you’re 95 years old, you’re not going to care who won the Super Bowl in 2024. You are going to care if you matter to people.

You are not going to care if you have a billion dollars at 95yo either. You are going to care if you matter. You will care about how you will be remembered.

Be leaders who matter. Be leaders people want to work with and would want their kids to be like. Create your leadership legacy by keeping your word, taking care of your people, and being loyal to those who are loyal to you. Those three are a good start.

Whether you lead a company or project team, being cheap with the budget and focused on the short-term won’t pay off in the long-run. Focus on what really matters. Businesses of all kinds, even in the NFL, need leaders like that these days.

Are you All-In or not?

One of the keynotes I share is The All-In Way: 5 Strategies to High Performance in Life and Leadership. The presentation includes the five strategies, along with lots of stories and examples of companies and people who are All-In or out.

One of the All-In examples is Dr. Michael Ackerman, M.D., Ph.D., Pediatric Cardiologist with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. If you’ve been part of The All-In Way, you may remember Dr. Ackerman’s story and his treatment of my nieces and nephews.

Early in his career, he was preparing an eight-year old girl from Michigan for a heart transplant, and she questioned him about surviving the surgery. He said she would survive and he would dance with her at her high school prom. Ten years later, her mother got in touch with Dr. Ackerman when it was time for her daughter’s prom.

Ten years later?! Don’t you think the mother would have understood if he explained his busy schedule? After all, by then, he was a well-known cardiologist with a schedule full of patients, transplants, teaching, and speaking events.

Dr. Ackerman remembered the promise he made to the little girl, and he made the trip to Michigan for the prom. The healthy patient and her cardiologist shared a dance to Rascal Flatts' Bless the Broken Road. After the dance, the young lady’s father drove the doctor five hours to the Detroit airport so he could catch a flight to Florida where he had a speaking engagement the next day.

Dr. Ackerman showed up.

He kept his word.

He lives and leads All-In, and he has the reputation to match.

Last month, LeBron James’s son, a freshman at USC, had a cardiac arrest during a basketball workout. Bronny was taken care of by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and recovered. The family released an update saying Bronny has a treatable congenital heart defect just this past weekend.

The statement said Bronny had follow-up evaluations at the Mayo Clinic led by Dr. Ackerman and at the Atlantic Health/Morristown Medical Center. (Source: Sports Illustrated)

LeBron James could take his son to any cardiologist anywhere in the whole world.

He took his son to Dr. Ackerman.

💥 It’s not about dancing at the prom. It’s about keeping your word. Even when you’re busy.

💥 It’s not about platitudes like, “Let me know if you need anything.” It’s about showing up with spaghetti dinner the fifth week after the funeral when the freezer is empty of casseroles. It’s about showing up for collaborations and commitments because you said you would.

💥 It’s not about what everyone else does. It’s about your standard of excellence.

A high standard of excellence for skill and care is ideal for a cardiologist, right?

Is less acceptable in your job?

It’s not about the job, it’s about you. It’s about what you choose as your own standard. You set the standard of excellence high because that’s who you are, not because that’s what you get paid or that’s what the boss requires. Because who you are.

Do not lower your standard for your own behavior because people around you have low standards. Or because some out-of-touch geezer boss gets a bonus off your work. Keep your standards where you want them to be because that is who you are.

You’re All-In or not.

Choose what All-In means based on who you are.

Live and lead accordingly, and you will have a more fulfilling life.

Goal-setting (and goal-getting!) with less agony and more PEP

Goal-setting is one of my favorite activities. It ranks right up there with goal-getting.

I love the whole detailed, thoughtful process of narrowing the focus, defining the actions, selecting milestones, and more. Sometimes, it takes hours to plan for big goals. It could start with brainstorming then focusing over coffee, then fine-tuning a day or two later.

Picturing the process, learning, and accomplishments along the way toward a big goal excites me.

If you’ve grabbed My Fulfilling Life workbook, you’ve seen the excitement.

Maybe you get excited about goals too?

It excites me most of the time. Sometimes, the whole detailed process can be overwhelming.

I realized recently that the process can make mountains out of molehills. The fact is, some goals do not need to be thought out for hours. They make sense, the steps are intuitive, and you can just go.

Sometimes, in fact, most of the time, goals can take just a few minutes with PEP: Plan, Envision, and Pursue.

⚫ Plan: anticipate the steps and immediate obstacles.

⚫ Envision: picture the immediate first steps.

⚫ Pursue: take the first step.

Don’t over-analyze to the point of trying to control minutia.

For example, when packing for a trip recently, the goal was to be prepared for events on the trip. I relied on a Packing List, which included an umbrella. Instead of just tossing an umbrella in the suitcase, I looked up the weather at the travel locations. It only took a few minutes, but was it really necessary? No. It took longer to do that than toss the umbrella into the suitcase. In fact, why not just keep an umbrella in the suitcase so it requires no thought at all?

Simplify as much as possible so the focus can be on the elements of the trip that are different—like on-site transportation and scheduling meetings.

Simplify as much as possible.

Another goal-setting example is the goal to build my network. Many of you are business owners and/or business development folks, so you probably have the same goal. We could analyze it for hours. Or, we could keep it simple by reflecting on what we already know about networking, what worked pre-pandemic, and what we want to build now.

Instead, let’s use this method:

1.      Desired state: One desire is to expand my network of women-owned businesses by 100 by December 31, 2023.

2.      Current state: Opportunities coming up include NAWBO KC breakfasts and the National NAWBO Conference.

3.      Steps:

a.      Initiate a LinkedIn connection with members of NAWBO KC. As the new president of the chapter, it makes sense for me to reach out.

b.      Invite new connections to meet for coffee after upcoming NAWBO KC breakfasts.

c.      Connect with people I meet at the NAWBO National conference. (That’s likely to be over 100 in itself!)

4.      Obstacles/Solutions

a.      Time to send invitations: Solution: block time after each breakfast and during the conference.

b.      Remember to invite connections to meet for coffee. Solution: block time to review invitation list bi-weekly.

5.      First Action: Block the time on the calendar.

There could be ten more steps listed, with metrics for each step. But, would those help me achieve the goal? Not in the case of increasing my network.

Every goal does not need to be analyzed to the n’th degree. Here are some goals which can be set quicker, using the simplified method:

• You already know the goal well

• You have done it in the past

• You know why you want to achieve it

• You are ready to start

What else comes to mind for you? Decide which goals need to be more thoroughly thought out than others.

Keep your process as simple as possible, and you’re more likely to follow through and accomplish even more in less time.

The #1 reason the RTO mandates fail and what to do about it

When asked nicely a year ago to return to work in person (RTO), many employees complied. Companies promised employees coming back to the office benefits of spontaneous conversations, teambuilding, collaboration, and mentoring,

Although skeptical that all of those things require being in person, people packed up their laptops at home, dressed in hard pants and shoes, made the commute, unpacked in their corporate offices, and got to work. Every once in a while, they ran into someone, but for the most part, people drove all the way to the office just to work the same way they did from their home offices.

They were alone in an office attending virtual meetings.

Promises made about how great it will be when everyone returns to the office were not reality. Yes, there were fun and games and free pizza lunches; however, those things do not make a culture.

⚫ Their bosses were not there to stop by or mentor. Top leaders weren’t making the same effort to be in the office, so why should everyone else, people wondered.

⚫  There were few in-person development opportunities because most were one-offs or online. Bosses were not inviting them to in-person meetings to learn or contribute something special.

 ⚫ There were very few useful team meetings or brainstorms for valuable purposes. Those are planned so people can prepare, research, bring ideas, and think about next steps.

After a few weeks, people resisted coming in to the office.

Why make the effort to haul the laptop in, suffer the commute, and wear hard pants all day, for an hour of phony teambuilding games and free pizza? Then to work the same way they would at home?

Employees want to come into the office when there is something scheduled and work from home the other times.

That spurred some companies to track employees’ work time, monitor computer usage, require login times, and threaten termination.

Some leaders took up the RTO battle so forcefully, it became the priority blinding them to other issues.

Recently, Salesforce, the $31.4 billion CRM company with 79k employees (Source: Forbes), tried a different tactic: emotional manipulation. For ten days starting this past Monday, the company would donate $10 for every day any employee came to the office.

Those mandates and manipulations are missing the boat.

Employees would want what was promised about RTO: mentoring, learning opportunities, engagement with leaders and each other (for the most part), team building, and brainstorms with purpose.

They do not want to be treated like children. The oversite that comes with being in person is stifling and insulting, yet many managers reverted back to old-fashioned micromanagement as soon as the pandemic ended.

People have changed. Management needs to change too.

No thirty-year old wants to ask permission to go to the dentist or justify leaving early to coach their kid’s soccer game.

Picture the conversation:

• Employee: “Can I leave an hour early next Monday to go to my kid’s soccer game across town?”

• Manager: “Sure. Are you going to skip lunch or come in an hour early that day to make up the time?”

• Employee: “Well, I worked late every day last week on the Travis project.”

• Manager: “Yeah, but how will you make up the time next week?”

Employees recognize that level of micromanagement as distrust.

It disconnects them from the manager, team, and company. A few of those incidents among the team prompt resume updates. It leads to disengagement and departures.

Don’t get it wrong.

People do not mind advising coworkers and managers that they will arrive late or leave early. Professionals from shift workers to customer service reps to HR generalists and accountants understand the need to get the work done and to be there for the team.

It’s the asking for permission part that feels intrusive and childish to grown adults.

When you want people to RTO, update your management style and make it worth it.

Here are three actions you can take to make RTO worthwhile for your people:

1.  Be there too. Be in the office, get your coffee in the break room, grab a group to go out for lunch, and talk to people when you see them around.

2.  Get to know the people you see. Walk around, ask about their day and work. Engage in small talk to show you care, build your network, and identify ways to help people.

3.  Connect people to opportunities. As you engage in small talk and get to know people, you will be able to identify work, learning, and networking opportunities that will be valuable to them. Seek opportunities to connect people so they can contribute, grow, and help others.

The more you are present, engage, and connect others, the better you can inspire people to want to be in the office. You can help create the sense of belonging and purpose people desperately seek right now. (Source: Mayo Clinic)

Inspiring will yield better results for the company than threats of termination will. It will improve your influence as a leader too.

 
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Sources:
Forbes.com Profile: Salesforce.com
https://www.forbes.com/companies/salesforce/?sh=6483e83e7a2b

 Is having a sense of belonging important?
Mayo Clinic Health System
December 2021
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/is-having-a-sense-of-belonging-important

There’s no crying in baseball…even if you’re the umpire

Being a baseball umpire must be tough. Sure, most of the calls are obvious. But, there are always a few calls during every game that get the teams and crowds riled up. Umpires never get applauded. They get yelled at. They get things thrown at them from the crowd. It is a thankless job.

All of that pressure brings to mind business leaders.

There are many similarities between business leaders and baseball umpires: both have to make quick decisions, stay composed under pressure, maintain order and authority, and ensure the performance follows the rules.

The most significant similarity is judgment.

Both jobs spend a lot of time judging others.

Leaders, like umpires, have to make decisions that affect outcomes. Leaders have to judge people and situations, and often do so quickly, with minimal information to make the decisions.

Honing the ability to judge is useful for leaders. It is not a skill one learns by age two, like how to walk. It’s more like how to swing a bat. You can learn it at age two, but to be really good at it takes years of practice and fine-tuning.

Leaders who are good at judgement can have positive effects on their teams:

1. Capitalize on talent: By judging others, leaders can identify talent and potential within their teams. Seeing strengths and weaknesses enables top leaders to put the right people in the right jobs, delegate effectively, and optimize team performance. It also helps leaders coach people for their future beyond the team.

2. Build performance: Judging others enables leaders to know where performance standards can be set and how to hold their teams accountable to the standards. The standards can become motivational for the teams and for individual growth.

3. Speed inovation and progress: Leaders who can judge wisely, discern, and make effective decisions are more likely to move quicker than others who need more meetings, more input, more data. The speed of innovation, response to customers, and progress matters, and the ability to judge contributes to it.

There are two significant negative effects when judging others goes unchecked:

1. Biased decisions: Leaders who do not guard against their own biases may overlook valuable perspectives or ideas, thus, sabotage innovation and progress.

2. Toxic culture: Judging can lead to lack of empathy and a disconnect between the leader and others, which can lead to people feeling insecure and constantly scrutinized. There can be a disconnect between the leader and others. There also can become a disconnect between employees and each other when judgment pits people against each other.

There is a fine line for leaders who use judgement wisely and those who do not.

Here are a few ways leaders can walk that line and stay on the positive, useful side of it:

1. Show empathy above all. To everyone.

2. Jump to positive conclusions about others before negative ones. Starting with positive enables you to go faster because when conversations begin with positive, the other person is more likely to join them.

3. MYOB. Mind Your Own Business. Do not judge others on things unrelated to the work team. You do not need to have an opinion about their hobbies, kids’ sports or schools, or spouse’s cooking. Free yourself from the weight of all of that by not judging things that do not impact the team.

4. Foster an inclusive culture deliberately. When people feel included, they are more likely to let you know you missed something in your decision-making. Without it, they check their brains and hearts at the door, and you’re on your own. (Plus, people bring ideas and all kinds of other great things that help beyond the subject of this post!)

5. Keep your mouth closed more often. Literally. Let others talk more. Listen more. If you stop talking, they are more likely to share in ways that can help you be more discerning.

Leaders affect whether their own teams/companies win or lose.

That’s a gigantic difference from umpires, whose detached objectivity does not affect themselves. The fact that a leader’s judgment impacts their own team is further support for honing the ability to think critically and take the five actions above.  

Leaders who take those five actions may cry with their teams, but their tears will be tears of joy and their pain be champagne!