I'd first heard the expression in one of advertising guru David Ogilvy's books. If I remember correctly he was discussing the manner in which we manage creatives. Creating fresh ideas day in and day out is a challenge, and hitting it out of the park doesn't happen with every swing of the bat. (Unless you're Joe Hardy.(1) There are risks involved in aiming for the exceptional. Risk means there's a possibility of failure. The best way to kill a creative team is to never allow a whiff.
There's always risk involved in any creative venture. Not every idea works. The best way to eliminate risk-taking is to do nothing. If you do nothing, you will never make a mistake. This is a business in which the competition for eyeballs is fierce. Creating something memorable and effective is no easy task.
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When we focus on punishing mistakes rather than rewarding initiative, we turn motivated students and workers into demotivated sheep. This is what prompted me to develop an alternative method of grading writing assignments when we were homeschooling our children. You can read my ideas on grading here.
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Those ideas came from painful experiences I had in school (even though I tended to be an A student) and also from a workshop I attended for soccer coaches back in the 1990s. In the workshop Buzz Lagos, head coach of the Minnesota Thunder pro soccer team, taught of various games that our kids could play, by which they would develop as players. Ball control, passing and teamwork would develop as they played these various competitive skirmishes.
During the Q&A afterwards, one of my fellow coaches asked an important question. "Sir, what skill level should my ten-year-olds be at?" That is, what are the benchmarks or milestones they should be at for the various stages at their age levels? How deft should their ball handling be? How strong and accurate their kicking?
Coach Lagos replied, "Don't even think about it. Only one thing is important, that they enjoy the game."
When we are kids we do what we love and we get better at it. I'm not sure that parents, teachers and coaches can create these passions, but I am absolutely persuaded that we can quench them.
The same can be true in the workplace. I believe most people want to do a good job, until years of mismanagement and abuse have corrupted this motivation. How we manage people can foster or frustrate their desire to excel. Once ruined, employees spend more time thinking about how to avoid punishment instead of focusing on the mission.
Do our employees know what the mission of the company is and how they fit into it? Are they--like players on a football team--playing in the right positions? Have they been properly trained? Is the value of their contribution recognized? Do you praise publicly and criticize privately?
It's often easier to know the right things to do than to do them. Unless we try, however, we'll end up being the same old rat stuck in the same old maze. If you're a teacher or leader, and you're not seeing a spark in your students' or employees' eyes, it may be time to re-assess, and learn some new tricks.
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Related Links
How to Teach Writing: A Soccer Coach Handed Me the Key
9 Maxims That Carried Me Through Three Decades in Corporate America
Photo by Alev Takil on Unsplash
(1) Joe Hardy was hero for Washington in the musical Damn Yankees.
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