Leading Narratives

In a Florida State University study, winning doubles tennis teams talked strategy twice as much as losing teams did. The study also found that winning teammates vocally encouraged each other nearly three times as more often than losing teams did. “Emotional exchanges help teams feel more capable” explains study coauthor Gershon Tenebaum, PhD In other words the more a team talks to each other with purpose, enthusiasm, and encouragement the greater the chance of success. _________________________________________________________ A Season In Words by Dan Spainhour $19.95

Daily learning. Stimulate team members to do what it takes to improve. Elbow room. As the team improves their competence, let them gradually take on more responsibility. Support. Show your players that all the team’s work is valuable, even if it’s not glamorous or doesn’t get public attention. Meaning. When things get tough, give consistent reminders of what the work will lead to. ___________________________________________________________ Print Edition $24.99 Instant Download &19.99 Print & Download $31.99

A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.–Japanese proverb A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.–Swahili proverb It’s easy to get good players. Getting them to play together, that’s the hard part.–Casey Stengel A coach is often responsible to an irresponsible public. Accumulate all the knowledge and information about coaching/leading. Then choose that which you intend to use. You cannot use it all. Some coaches are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade. It’s your job; it’s their game. _______________________________________________________ A Season In Words by Dan Spainhour $19.95

Emotion and motion come from the same Latin root meaning, “to move”.  When you want to move people to take action, connect to their emotions. An act of leadership motivation is an act of emotion. In any strategic leadership endeavor, you must make sure that the people have a strong emotional commitment to realizing the end result. Recently, a chief officer of a worldwide services company said, “Now I know why we’re not growing! Our senior leaders developed our marketing strategy in a bunker!” The document was some 40 pages long and single-spaced. The points it made were logical, consistent, and comprehensive. It made perfect sense. That was the trouble. It made perfect intellectual sense to all of the senior leaders. But it did not make experiential sense to the people who had to carry it out. The action folks had about as much input into the strategy as the window washers at corporate headquarters. Therefore, the team members never felt an emotional tie to the action plan. A...