Intrinsic/External Motivation and Soccer Canada

In Canada we are getting ready for something that hasn’t happened for 36 years – the Men’s National Soccer Team is going to the World Cup. What happened? John Herdman is what happened. If you don’t know about John Herdman take some time to listen to or watch his talks. John is a self proclaimed “Hobbit from New Zealand”.

John Herdman was actually born in England, loved soccer (football) and made his way to New Zealand. In 2011, John made his way to Canada to take over leadership of the Womens National Team. Coming off their worst international performance ever, John quickly led the Womens Team to a gold medal finish at the 2011 Pan American Games in Mexico followed by bronze medals at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

In January 2018, John inherited the Canadian Mens National Team ranked 94th in the world. Where are they today, currently ranked 33rd and on their way to the World Cup.

How does John do this? John finds the North Star for the team and individuals on the team. This becomes the external motivation for the team and players – unanimous focus on a common goal. While John provides external motivation, he also puts the team together with individuals that are internally motivated and will “Live Above the Line” and provide 80% + every single day. 100% is not possible, but 80% is the minimuim requirement (at approximately 13:45 of the clip below). Living below 80% is mediocrity and if you live below that line, you don’t represent Canada because you don’t deserve it.

Now in your personal or professional life, are you passionate about what you do and are you intrinsically motivated to Live Above The Line?

Who Is Your Pitcher of Water?

You’ve heard it before – circle yourself with personal and professional connections that will help you improve. It doesn’t matter who you are, those challenging times will come at some time in your life. Your personal glass of water can sometimes be half empty or half full. We can’t always be at 100%. What I find more important is that you have a support network around you that can lift you up during those times. That is what I call my pitcher of water. I have been blessed throughout my life to have pitchers of water around, always looking to fill up my glass when needed.

As leaders, we need to do the same thing. When you have that opportunity to refill someones glass, don’t let that opportunity pass you by. Someday your glass will need a refill.

Upstream Solutions

Too often when problems arise we treat the symptoms and not the root cause. Dan Heath wrote a tremendous book called “Upstream” and introduces practical ways to identify opportunities, overcome resistance and make a change.

When entering a new organization look for the champion, the individual that needs to repeatedly step in and “save the day”. Many organizations cherish and reward the champion. In Upstream thinking organizations, there are no champions. The true champions have focused on eliminating the problem from occurring in the first place. You can also look for the frustration – tension between teams or individuals.

We are introduced to some reasons that leaders do not take the time to move upstream. 1) Problem Blindness. You know when everyone tells you that in this industry or in this company that’s how we have always done things. That’s the tunnel vision that comes from companies that have existed for years and have become complacent with current performance (anyone heard of Blackberry?).
2) Lack of Ownership. That is someone else’s responsibility. I like to tell teams that the leak may be in the other end of the boat but if the boat goes down, well we are all going down.
3) I’m too busy and I can’t deal with that right now. Let’s work on that another day.

To succeed in moving upstream and making change, leaders must focus on the following: 1) Leaders must detect problems early. 2) Leaders must target leverage points in complex systems. 3) Leaders must find reliable ways to measure success. 4) Leaders must pioneer new ways of working together. 5) Leaders must embed their successes into systems to give them permanence.

This is a great read for any leader struggling to get results and dealing with the same issues over and over again.

Newton’s First Law (Law of Inertia)

Newton’s first law (the law of inertia) states states that if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.

Being an Engineer, I love when we can apply laws of physics to our daily lives and leadership journeys.

Perfect time to understand this law with the NHL hockey playoffs on right now. You get the player cruising into the other teams area, focused on the goalie and where to shoot the puck, when WHAM!!!!! Out of nowhere comes a 200 lb hockey player focused entirely on you and how best to stop your motion. This is a force that is difficult to get away from and following the impact, you learn a lesson you will not too soon forget.

Now, in our personal or leadership journeys it is very easy to maintain status quo – either at rest or following a straight line. It is very rare that a 200 lb man will crash into you and remind you not to eat that sugary treat, drink one more cocktail, continue to think of ways to become more efficient even when your company is profitable or look for ways to engage your team members and help them grow even after a recent promotion. It comes down to each and every one of us to continue to improve every day. We have been given an opportunity to exist in our current state on this planet for a limited time.

There are so many opportunities in life to seek out information, techniques and better ways of doing things. We are bombarded with blogs, books, articles and tips of the day. It is up to you as a leader to continue to look for ways to improve, either by searching out information or coaches that can help in your journey. The force required for change can come from within or can come from outside. Think of the case when your Doctor tells you that if you don’t veer from your current path you may reduce your time on this planet. Or when your supervisor tells you that status quo is not an option and without change you may be looking for a new job.

Be the force necessary to make change in your life.

Linear Progress

Your leadership journey will not always have linear progress. You know when everyone tells you that when you put in the work you will see progress. Hate to tell you, sometimes you don’t see the progress you are expecting.

Whether it is exercise, dieting or your leadership journey you need to be prepared for non-linear progress and even sometimes taking a step backward. If you find yourself going too far backward it may be time to seek out guidance or advice. The same strategies or approaches will not work for all situations. Send me a note if you feel that your linear progression has stalled and we can discuss some new approaches.

Level 5 Leadership

If you haven’t had a chance to read Jim Collins, make a point to do it at some time. Jim introduces the concept of Level 5 Leadership.

Good to Great: The Level 5 Leader – Borden's Blather

Jim found that Level 5 leaders have humility, and they don’t seek success for their own glory; rather, success is necessary so that the team and organization can thrive. They share credit for success, and they’re the first to accept blame for mistakes. Collins also says that they’re often shy, but fearless when it comes to making decisions, especially ones that most other people consider risky.

Level 1: Highly Capable Individual

At this level, you make high quality contributions with your work. You possess useful levels of knowledge; and you have the talent and skills needed to do a good job.

Level 2: Contributing Team Member

At Level 2, you use your knowledge and skills to help your team succeed. You work effectively, productively and successfully with other people in your group.

Level 3: Competent Manager

Here, you’re able to organize a group effectively to achieve specific goals and objectives.

Level 4: Effective Leader

Level 4 is the category that most top leaders fall into. Here, you’re able to galvanize a department or organization to meet performance objectives and achieve a vision.

Level 5: Great Leader

At Level 5, you have all of the abilities needed for the other four levels, plus you have the unique blend of humility and will that’s required for true greatness.

Gresham’s Law

Gresham’s Law: The Bad Drives Out the Good As Time Passes

Gresham’s Law was first applied to economics. In ecomomics, Gresham’s law is a monetary principle stating that “bad money drives out good”. For example, if there are two forms of commodity money in circulation, which are accepted by law as having similar face value, the more valuable commodity will gradually disappear from circulation.

Whenever coins containing precious metals have been used along with base metal coins of the same denomination, both legally accepted as tender, the bad coins have driven the good coins out of circulation. Gresham’s Law is named after Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), an English financier in the time of the Tudors.

One practical application of Gresham’s Law and perhaps the most important is to avoid becoming part of systems where good behavior cannot win due to the nature of the law. There are certain companies and organizations that lack the “policing” necessary to keep systems of behavior on the straight and narrow, and thus bad behavior gains a hard-to-replace foothold. While it’s admirable to be the “cleanest shirt” in a pile of dirty laundry, certain areas of human life do not allow the clean shirts to win. As a leader, when you do observe behavior that is not acceptable, it is your duty to deal with it and not reward it. If you do, over time bad behavior will drive out good beahvior.

People and Characters – Good Versus Bad | Straight Talk

Risk Management

In the excitement of a looming opportunity, decision makers are infamous for concentrating on what a strategy could do for them if it succeeded and not enough, or at all, on what it could do to them if it failed. “What future events could make this plan go wrong?” and “What would happen to us if it did go wrong?”

Complacency

Complacency – Unconcerned by things that should concern them, and they may neglect their duties. Satisfied with the current situation and unconcerned with changing it, often to the point of smugness.

It is so easy to get relaxed and into the groove of doing the same thing every day and expecting improvement.

When was the last time you were complacent about wearing seatbelts? When did you just stop paying attention to them because they didn’t seem that important or you were distracted by other things? The answer is probably never. You either have formed the habit of using seatbelts or you have not. If you have formed the habit, you automatically buckle the belt, regardless of your complacency, sense of vulnerability or other distractions or priorities. If you have not formed the habit, you may buckle up only when you are concentrating on the need for such precautions (or not at all).

Windshield or Rear View Mirror

When you are setting out for a drive, how often do you only look at the rear view mirror to get to your destination? Not too often I am guessing. The results may not be favourable. So why do we look backward at events in our life, yes it is good to learn and adapt but let’s look forward.

30k+ Rear View Mirror Pictures | Download Free Images on Unsplash

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell