Sports Story of the Week
Hall of Fame Inductions
This past weekend in Canton, Ohio, Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Adam Vinatieri, Luke Kuechly and Roger Craig were inducted into the Hall of Fame. As is tradition, they were given a Gold Jacket, made a speech, and placed their bust in the hall of fame.
The speeches had variety and range of experiences, as did the players. From a franchise quarterback to one of the best kickers in the league, each of the five players discussed their experience, thanked those that made it possible, and tried to describe what the game meant to them, and the lessons along the way.
There were so many stories, lessons, teams and quotes, I certainly don't have space to share them all, but I encourage you to watch or read some of these. Perhaps one of the best ways we can remember that sports don't teach lessons, but they create a pretty perfect environment for lessons to be learned. Lessons of failure, lessons of resilience, lessons of teamwork, lessons of health, lessons of commitment, of hard work, the list goes on.
During those speeches, there were three themes that were throughout, I have those themes and lesson, below.
3 Lessons from the Hall of Famers
1. Hall of Famers requires whole person support.
The athletes all gave credit to their families for all the behind-the-scenes sacrifices that allowed them to perform. From the spouses handling their family obligations to the rides to practice as a child. In business, managers and leaders should recognize that employees are also humans, with lives, families, and obligations outside of work. A great leader connects to employees enough to establish and create boundaries, offers flexibility, and understands that an employee who feels supported in the season they are in in their personal life will be far more engaged and loyal at work.
2. Hall of Famers need mentorship, psychological safety and trust.
The thing they missed most? The people. We must work to build a collaborative Locker Room and not a cutthroat one. Managers should work to foster an environment and a culture where team members celebrate wins together and support each other through losses. This requires building psychological safety, which is an environment where employees feel safe to share ideas, admit mistakes, and collaborate without fear of backstabbing. The locker room is the safe space, the place that is sacred, a place that players miss, long after they are gone. The game you can go play, the locker room, you can never join again.
3. Hall of Famers value character and impact over accolades.
Each Hall of Famer discussed more about the process of playing the game than just their records. They highlighted how the game taught them character traits, life lessons about resiliency, consistency, communication and more. In business, it’s easy to become to focused on the metrics, the measureables. The final sales numbers, the launch date, the "scoreboard". Great leaders and managers learn to praise the process instead, the resilience shown when a deal fell through, the effort and consistency of a steady performer, or the excellent cross-departmental communication. Rewarding the right behaviors will encourage everyone that the results, done in the right way, will eventually come.
