Did you know the first Super Bowl was played 50 years ago? The game was 1967, the Kansas City Chiefs against the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay was only up 14-10 at halftime, but Green Bay scored 3 more touchdowns in the second half to win the game 35-10 (as well as win $15,000 per player.) Vince Lombardi, considered by many as the greatest coach ever (at least until Bill Belichick came along), was the coach of the Packers for the very first Super Bowl win. Lombardi won every single season when he was the head coach in the NFL.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a streak like Vince Lombardi? As a business owner, football provides a lot of parallels. Just like a successful general manager of a pro football team you need a sound strategy for building your team of employees. Clearly defining an employee’s role and providing the proper amount of training for them to execute those roles are critical to the success of both your business and your employees. Setting up a detailed job description should be done even before the employee is hired, and continually evaluated and tweaked throughout their career. Concentrate on the framework of an employee’s day-to-day activities and set up personal goals for them to reach. When their personal goals line up with the company’s goals, employees feel that their work matters. And don’t hesitate to switch up your team and try them in different roles to utilize to their strengths and make the business run more cohesively.
A defense strategy with your employees is important in business as well. Harvard Business School studies say as many as 75% of all companies in the US are turning to personality evaluations in the workplace. Different personalities and personal behavioral differences can sideline even the best employees when conflicts arise. Consider evaluating your employees with a personality assessment test. A DiSC assessment test is a quick and simple questionnaire employees answer to give insight on what motivates them, methods to their work, and the best way to communicate with them. It can also help minimize conflict from misunderstandings or unintentional slights. Implementing changes based on a personality DiSC profile for each employee can make sure that the proper course is set for optimal interrelations.
Often business owners could their own use a coach to set up actionable goals for the company, or to help reach the goals you’ve got in place. For instance, your business may have a goal of increasing production of a product by 25%. That may involve an investment in additional equipment and/or personnel. Having a “game plan” for how you are going to achieve that goal will require a strong ”Game Plan”. Building that plan will involve a fair and thorough evaluation of your current team and resources and a review of what’s available outside your organization. A coach can help you do those evaluations and examine your Game Plan options.
If you’re not sure if your Game Plan is where it needs to be, Performance Growth Advisors would be happy to sit down with you for a consultation to discuss a plan of action to bring out the best in your employees. There are many benefits to having a business coach, and amongst them is having someone work with you as a team to define roles, develop responsibilities, assess employees, and design training plans to advance your business. We can set up a game plan for taking your business across the goal line.
On February 5th, over 100 million of us will be watching Super Bowl LI. The matchup between the Falcons and the Patriots will be an exciting game. My Steelers are out of the mix so, along with the fans of 30 other teams, I’ll be rooting for a close game (and watching the commercials).