On the drive to work today, I heard Rob Ninkovich tell a story on the radio about Rob Gronkowski putting an 'Easy' button in the end zone and then picking it up and jumping around crazily after scoring a touchdown. He then handed to Bill Belichick...not a great idea.
As recently discussed, Michael Mauboussin (The Success Equation) shared the continuum of skill and luck. In basketball, the meek do not inherit the earth as skill (with attendant deliberate practice) correlates strongly with results.
Success in sports, business, and professions demands attention to detail in strategy, system (organization), people, and process. If you want the best results failure in any area compromises your results.
Strategy. How do you want to play? If you want to play fast are you preparing players and team for the conditioning and execution of the transition game? Is practice oriented to achieve that? Does each player understand her role, the commitment, and the organizational goals?
System. Do you have a unified organization, from administration through whatever 'varsity', junior varsity, freshman, feeder programs? If not, can it be fixed? Do you have your 'community' support at every level or are you facing a Sisyphean and thankless task?
People. Are the 'right' people installed at every level of the organization? For example, in the Celtics front office, there is ownership (Grousbeck et al.), management (Ainge), and coaching (Stevens) stability. That allows consistency of approach as they work to identify and acquire a roster that can compete for a championship. The paradigm of success is the Spurs, with long-term stability with Peter Holt (owner), R.C. Buford (GM), and Gregg Popovich (coach), and the Big Three of Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili together for almost fifteen years.
Process. Do you have a coherent and consistent process of planning, preparation, study, practice, evaluation, feedback, and refinement? Creating a thoroughly integrated program sets the bar high. That means attention to each individual within the organization, reminiscent of Bill Walsh's "Standards of Excellence." The person answering the phone has to have the same pride in their role as the management and players. You may remember the visit to NASA when the President asked a custodian about his job and he replied, "I help land a man on the moon."
Developing that organization certainly doesn't have an Easy button. Finding people who declare their passion and commitment is easy. Very few choose to work the process.
