Al Erricson was my basketball coach in 1982 and the truth is he has learned a lot about coaching since then.
In fact, if you compare how much Al's skills as a coach have improved compared to my basketball skills, Al would be an NBA all-star and I would still be in the little league.
If only Al knew then what he knows now, we might have been able to win a game or two. What Al knows, and every business owner and manager should know, is that being successful is not all about skills. It takes the right attitude, team culture and hard teamwork to be successful.
Running a business is much like coaching a team. We need to know what we are playing for.
When I played for Al, we were playing to play. Now I watch Al and he is playing to win! There is a different mindset and that is the same mindset that needs to happen in business.
Are you coming to work to put in time or are you trying to achieve a goal? What is the purpose of doing what you are doing?
Until we are clear about what we are trying to do with our job, our business and our lives, we are just floating along, rarely winning and often not really in the game.
Great leaders and great coaches have some similar qualities.
No. 1 - Clarity and vision: They are clear about what they want to achieve and have a vision of what that should look like.
No. 2 - Communication: They are able to tell their team, staff, co-workers what those goals and visions are in a way that is easy to understand.
No. 3 - Simplicity: Great leaders and coaches keep it simple, teach it simple and simply do it. When we complicate things, ideas or systems we screw stuff up. We think we are making ourselves look good because we are "omplex but in reality we act stupid.
No. 4 - Determination: If something is worth trying to achieve, it likely is going to take some hard work. Hard work on the part of the team and dedication and determination on behalf of the leader.
In business and with sports teams, goals and visions can take time to realize. We don't build a dream team overnight. We don't build a successful business in a weekend.
It's true that sometimes we can get lucky. We can build a winning team or a business the first time out.
More often than not, it takes time to understand the rules of the game and how to get it right. This applies to business as well as to sports. Once you can understand what needs to be done and in what order, you can teach others on how to do it properly.
We can put systems into our business and teach our employees to do that layup properly. When we communicate these skills that are necessary to be successful effectively, we can be on the road to having a winning team.
Sports coaches look at the scoreboard regularly. Unfortunately as business owners we don't do it enough.
In order to understand if we are winning or losing we need to be looking at our financial statements on a regular monthly basis. This is our scoreboard. You need to understand if you are making money or not.
If you are not making money you will not be in business long and you won't be able to accomplish your mission of helping people. You will also not be in any position to contribute to your community by employing people and contributing as small businesses do.
If you want to win at business or at sports it takes the mentality of playing to win, development of your team and reading your scoreboard. Working on these on a daily basis will go a long way to ensuring you and your team are winners.
Dave Fuller is a business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Send Dave your comments at dave@profityourselfhealthy.com.
