Leaders face a constant struggle of prioritizing activity over accomplishment. There are moments in the life of every church, business, sports team, and non-profit which matter more than others. These are the defining times when investments, critical decisions, advancements, and personnel decisions are made.
It is during these crucial times that leadership must rise to the top. The best leaders get things done when it matters the most.
In the October 7th edition of Sports Illustrated, the great baseball writer Tom Verducci takes a look at what it takes win during the most crucial time of the baseball season, the World Series. As I read the article, I gleaned 7 Practices Of Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most.
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Make The Most Of Their Opportunities – Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane said, “Two years ago the [2011 champion St. Louis] Cardinals barely made the playoffs. I’m pretty sure their business plan was not to make it in on the last day and run right through the playoffs. The [2010 world champion San Francisco] Giants got in on the last day.”
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Are Often Lucky – Leaders rarely admit it but we all need a few fortunate breaks. Beane goes on to add, “As long as you have a lot of teams…the more likely you are to have random events. I can assure you that whoever wins, they will start writing the story from the winner backward. Nobody really knows before it starts.”
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Do Something Big – Teams who hit more home runs than their opponents win 70% of the time during the regular season and make the playoffs.
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Don’t Quit – It is important that leaders simply show up every single day. The last eight teams to reach the World Series ranked ninth or lower in the amount of team strikeouts. In other words, they hit the ball and just got on base more than their opponents. A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson became a star this year. He attributes his ascension to simply cutting down his strikeout rate and taking more walks. He just got on base more often.
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Eliminate Chance – Beane is a great admirer of the 1998 New York Yankees. He says, “The best team I’ve ever seen. It was a testament to how great they were. They just about eliminated chance.”
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Transition Out Poor Performers – Beane points out, “We don’t have any stars, but we also don’t have any bad players. Baseball teams are very mathematical. You can have a star player like Mike Trout and completely nullify his performance if you have two players that are really bad.”
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Have Specific Roles For Those On Their Teams – Beane continues, “All 25 [of our] players have very specific roles.”
- Leaders Who Get Things Done When It Matters Most Are Great Thinkers – When it comes to winning in the playoffs, Beane becomes even more analytical. He says, “We have to become more myopic and [deeper] in our quantitative analysis. As we get more and more information, we become more and more rational.”
Make The Most Of Your Opportunities, Get Lucky, Do Something Big, Don’t Quit, Eliminate Chance, Transition Out Poor Performers, Provide Specific Roles and Great Thinking. If you practice these 8 things, you may also be a leader who accomplishes things when it matters most.
If you want to raise up volunteers who get things done when it matters most in your church, then on October 29th, The Rocket Company is putting on a FREE online conference called Get More Volunteers 2013.
This conference is hosted by Tony Morgan and features great leaders like Reggie Joiner, Perry Noble, Chris Hodges and Derwin Gray. I’ll even be playing a role. Click here or on the image provided to sign up. I recommend you get your entire volunteer team to watch. You’ll be glad you did.