Being the play caller is as critical to leadership as it is to football. In the game of football, the pressure fully rests on the play caller to make the right decision. In leadership, the same is true.
I coached football at the youth level for twenty-one years. I was the head coach, but also served as the play caller. There is nothing like designing and orchestrating an offense. I have found equal satisfaction in designing and orchestrating teams in the workplace.
Yesterday, I watched a lot of college football. I saw some good play calls and I saw some bad play calls. The reality is, someone has to make the call in football and in leadership.
Here are seven valuable lessons I learned from running an offense and how they translate to leadership:
Stay on Offense
When we were facing a team with a good offense, our defensive strategy was to stay on offense. We tried to possess the football for as long as possible by getting first downs and keeping the clock moving. It is impossible for the other team’s offense to score if they are on the sideline.
Busyness dominates our leadership worlds. We end up spending too much time on defense and not enough on offense. When we are stuck on defense, we are usually behind on the scoreboard.
Stick With What Got Us There
As playoff time rolled around, we played teams for the second time. It was tempting to change everything and come up with new schemes. They had seen our system before. Great coaches create new wrinkles, but stick with what got them there.
When we experience success in leadership, we run the risk of changing a bunch of things. We should be open to change, but should also focus on building upon that success. Stick with what got us there.
Execute the Fundamentals
It drove our parents nuts. As the season started, we worked on the Fundamentals. On offense, if we could not get in a stance, we did not move onto blocking. If we could not block, we did not start lining up plays. If our backfield could not take a handoff, we did not work on plays. If we could not break the huddle and get in position, you guessed it, we did not run plays.
It was excruciating to watch, but when gametime came, we always executed. We defaulted to our fundamentals.
It was the fundamentals that got us to where we are at in leadership. It’s the things we did consistently well over an extended period of time. Fundamentals are the key to sustained success.
Give The Plan Time
One of my favorite movies of all time is Remember the Titans. When questioned on his limited playbook by an assistant coach, Coach Herman Boone replied with, “It’s like Novocain. Just give it time, it always works.” I subscribed to this methodology as a play caller.
If we remain committed to our plan, the play calling is better. Sometimes good play calls just need some time to work. Just give it the necessary time.
Trust Your Personnel
Great play callers trust their personnel. No play works without the players. The play caller puts together the right personnel on the field to execute the play.
Our people are our Sustainable, Competitive Advantage in leadership. It’s our job to put the people in the right positions, then equip them to execute the play calls. It’s what leaders are called to do.
Build Your Strategy Around Your People
A key piece to a good offense is designing one that fits your talent. I have watched too many coaches over the years try to run a system that did not fit their talent. Over my coaching career, we ran similar overall concepts, but we always gravitated to the schemes that fit our talent in that season. If we were fast, we played fast. If we were big and lacked speed, we played strong.
Too many organizations try to squeeze people into a job description rather than design the job around the person. If you desire maximum results, don’t put Square Pegs in Round Holes. Build the strategy around people, not words on a paper.
Critics Only See The Outcome
Critics have the luxury of seeing the outcome without knowing the intention. I called thousands of plays over the years, not even one was designed to lose yards. None of the intended outcomes were designed to fumble or to throw an interception either. If I would have known the outcome of all the unsuccessful plays I called, guess what? I would not have called them!
That is why Critics sit in the bleachers and coaches stand firmly on the sidelines. You Can Count on Critics to possess the unique advantage of evaluating leadership decisions with the result in hand. It’s easy to critique everything through instant reply. It requires courage in the face of critics to be a good play caller.
Leadership requires making decisions in real time. None of us are granted the luxury of being able to see how things will play out before we make the call. It requires courage in the face of critics to be a good leader.
Conclusion
I vividly remember those play calls that didn’t go so well. The ones that cost us the game. Maybe even ended our season. Those are the ones that haunt me to this day.
From a leadership perspective, we all have those play calls we would like to have back. But, those setbacks set up our comebacks. We were better play callers in the future for it.
What’s more important are the thousands of plays that I called that worked. Both in the smallest of moments and the biggest of them. The ones that were difference makers.
The absolute most important thing…the time spent with those responsible for executing the play calls. Some would go on to play in college and even the pro’s. But, it was watching them be productive members of society that mattered.
They were worth the time invested. Each and every one of them. So are the people we lead. Call the play, there is no time to waste, the clock is running.
