Talk to Your People!
I went to an NBA game last night for the first time in many years.
One of the most interesting things I noticed during the game was the home team’s use of timeouts. During every timeout of the game, the home team’s coaches would walk to the middle of the court, huddle together, and talk to one another. Sometimes individual coaches would have a quick word with an individual player as the coach returned to the bench and the player returned to the floor. The players themselves, though, were left to their own devices during the timeouts, and on only one occasion did they gather together as a group. Even at that, it was a gathering only of the 5 players who were currently in the game.
I found all of this very unusual given the contrast I observe in having watched some of the recent college basketball tournament games. There, most teams use timeouts to huddle the players around the coach, who usually has a whiteboard in his hand to illustrate his instructions.
Now, this is not meant to be a comparison of the NBA game versus the college game, nor a discussion about the merits of particular coaching styles. What I saw yesterday, though, was “top down” leadership at its peak. The leaders (coaches) got together, made decisions, and then gave limited instructions to the players during the game (e.g. when they were distracted). Not surprisingly, they lost, despite having a lead for a good portion of the game.
The leadership lesson here? Simple. Talk to your people. Lead with questions. The game might have had a very different outcome if the coaching staff had started timeouts by saying things like, “What are you seeing out there?” or making sure to ask, “What else could we do to improve?”
Are you talking to your people? Are you leading with questions, not statements?
