Is What Coaches Say True?

It is the standing opinion of some prominent football coaches that what we fans want to believe about players and their motivation isn't true at all: the belief players are so motivated they approach every game with the same intensity.

Former Texas head coach Mac Brown, now an analyst for ABC / ESPN made it clear recently. "The fact is, and many coaches agree, you can only get your kids' motivational intensity at a maximum level, four games a year!" He quoted colleagues who agree with that premise. Wait: it's a twelve game collegiate season! This suggests that a given player will not be at his optimum for eight of the team's regular season games? Obviously coaches are fortunate their entire roster isn't synchronized into the same four games.

I thought about this having played football and reflected, "Mac's right." It's impossible to bring any talent to a fever pitch with every outing. So, can we transfer this to non-athletic competition? What about people who drag themselves out of bed at 3:30 in the morning to do a morning show...day after day, year after year?

Let's include the other side of the building and consider the ebbs and surges of sales people, knowing the only reason for their existence is the word "NO." How many "games" a year are they truly at maximum performance?

You may think these comparisons are obtuse or not relatable to an athlete or their team psychology. Well, I don't...so the question becomes, should we accept the view from some of these celebrated mentors of men and women or simply continue to see it as just one long line of performance history?

Where is the opportunity here? Changing reality is a waste of time but possibly the enlightened outlook would suggest to us "okay, they're not 'up' for every game/show/client presentation. But what leadership techniques can we engage to narrow the spikes between the optimum and the marginal?" As a starter, too many mangers and their organizations are often too distracted to deal with these ephemeral questions. Many see it as plus-or-minus, gain or loss; unfortunate but understandable.

And this is not a new consideration. As one example, radio history records the Fairbanks Group was a model of excellence: Dallas-Ft. Worth, Indianapolis, Boston and others. When Fairbanks sold the company its new owners noted that every year in Boston, the station would rent the sidewalk just outside the Prudential Building for a day. There were few commercials, mostly all promos for these annual events. They grossed around a half-million say those who were there. The new ownership quickly pondered, "fifty thousand for a sidewalk? Why would we do that?" A lot of revenue vaporized but they did save the $50,000.

If inspiring your people to stay closer to their peak and renting a sidewalk or a skywriter for a day helps narrow the range between highest and lowest performing levels more often, it could mean you're already ahead of the game.