Choose the Right Question at World Cup Time
 Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog |
| The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. |
| Follow me on Twitter |
| For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter |
| Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention. |
| Find out more about Wally's coaching services. |
 |
Here we go again. It's World Cup time again and this time even the USA seems to be paying attention.
Around the world, bosses in all kinds of organizations are paying attention, too. Here's what the Wall Street Journal had to say under a headline of "World Cup Challenges Bosses."
"The World Cup's winner won't be determined until July. But there are already clear losers: bosses."
Really? I'm sure that there's a boss or two out there that's passionate about the World Cup. If you think they're automatically losers, then you think that short term productivity and compliance are the most important goals of business.
The Journal calls the Cup a "quadrennial month-long productivity drain." This is buttressed by the usual made-up figures on lost productivity.
What astounding rubbish! If you're a boss, you're not a helpless victim of Cup fever. You can make good of all this. It all depends on the question you ask.
You can ask: "How can we keep our people's interest in the Cup matches from draining away our productivity?"
That question lets people know that you want them to leave their passion at the office door. Ask that question and you risk allowing your concern with a few weeks' productivity to sabotage your team dynamics.
Or, you can ask: "How can we use this time and my team members' passion to help us become a better team?"
That question assumes that you've got human beings on your team and that you expect them to show up with all their passions. That question is a team builder.
Boss's Bottom Line
Business is a long-term game. Every day you should look for ways to help your team become the best they can be.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
I love to talk about soccer at work and are above average interested myself. Using football to tell my employees on how to be a star player is a great leadership tool, because leaders have a lot to learn about team building and celebrating from football. And having a beer with co-workers and watching a game togheters is great social fun. At work we got the games on a TV so people can follow the games. But customers first, productivity first. If you are a boss and worry about how you will lose during the world cup, you got it all wrong. Look at the direct way the managers lead, they are out there, waving their arms, shouting directions on the fly. If you can manage like that you will have a winning team. Comment on challenges right away, applaud right behaviour and advice and guide if they run the "wrong direction" - there is a lot to learn from soccer, or the real football for non-US folks.
Reply to this
Thanks for sharing that folks. You get extra credit for using "soccer" for us US readers. For me, there are two key issues. First, lining up against your people can wreck good relations for a long time. You should only do it for a very important reason. In my mind, four weeks of World Cup doesn't qualify. Second, you need to view the team as a living thing that will have a rich lifespan, not just a tool you'll use for a little while.
Reply to this
Wally,
Great article. You are right bosses could take the opportunity to use the lessons of leadership and teamwork as discussion tools to build both more effectively in their organizations.
I wrote three blog posts relating the opportunities the World Cup has for leadership and teamwork lessons.
My biggest is that true teamwork is a myth as teamwork only ever truly breaks down when one individual team member fails to perform to standards and expectations (e.g., the England goaltender who flubbed the shot on the US goal in the opening game, that wasn't a breakdown in teamwork but one individual).
How many times do organization leaders come to you wanting to talk about improving 'teamwork,' when in reality they have a performance management/behavior issue with just a couple of individuals who cause the 'teamwork' breakdown.'
If anyone wants to read my trilogy of blog posts over the weekend, they can start with "Another Individual Mistake Sabotages "Teamwork" in U.S.-England Tie at World Cup." (there was another example of this on Sunday when a player from Denmark hit a headball into the back of a teammate and in to his own goal, that again is not a lack of teamwork but poor individual decision-making I would argue)...
Thanks for allowing me to share.
Skip
Reply to this
Thanks, Skip. You and Frode both make the point about how easy it is to both start conversations and draw leadership lessons from the matches. Thanks for the link to your post, as well.
Reply to this
Excellent distinctions in the intent behind the questions you pose, Wally. It seems to me that the first question, although not glaringly so, is a "leading question" in disguise (and leading questions can be quite dangerous under certain circumstances).
Reply to this
Yes, Mary Jo, that seems right. I think leading questions are especially dangerous when you don't understand that they are leading questions.
Reply to this