Page 233 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Don’t Look at the Scoreboard

FOCUS ON “REHEARSALS” 215

Like any skilled director or sports coach, a manager needs to
make sure that her or his team is properly prepared for the per-
formance. In business, every day is a performance day, so every-
body must be prepared. This means that enough time needs to
be allocated to training, brainstorming, exchanging ideas, and
the like in an effort to produce the most prepared “cast of
characters.”

ceive that encore opportunity was to work hard in practice right
now, today. “Let’s get to work. Let’s have a good practice, fellas,”
I’d say. Then I’d blow my whistle and we’d get started.
Forget about the encore, forget about Broadway, forget about
dress rehearsals, ignore reviews, and don’t dream about a standing
ovation. Forget about winning and get back to work—right now,
this minute. And we did.
As their leader, my job was to help them accomplish the goal of
blocking out the future, the standings, and what they hoped the
scoreboard might show at the end of the game.
All we have is the opportunity to prepare in the present. It is im-
possible to do this when and if you’re peering into the future.
Whatever peering needed to be done, I would do for the team. And
even that was tightly contained, sealed in an envelope and filed
away.
Success is possible only when everybody is paying attention to
their jobs. The best way to achieve dreams is to ignore them. The
best way to attain long-term goals is to put them in an envelope.
My first goal and priority was never long term, it was very short
term: helping the team improve right now in practice.