The setting was a primary school – kids were running an athletics relay race. One child runs, and passes the baton to the next person. One team was clearly winning, until the baton was handed over to the last kid in the team. Then the lesson began.
Instead of the kid continuing to run to the finish line [by maintaining the direction of the race], he ran the other way. In other words, he practically erased the progress made by the earlier runners. As you watch the video, you will see the coach shouting at the kid to turn around, and run in the appropriate direction.
My Question to us: Do you think the coach communicated the purpose of that race to the last kid? Possibly, he assumed that he knew – and that he would follow the direction of the race.
Bad things happen in firms because the business objectives are not well communicated to team members, making some to come and erase progress made by others. As a business leader, take time to communicate the objective and what WINNING in markets really means – and do not assume that everyone understands. And the more you communicate, you may not even need to coach during the “business relay race”
Comment on Feed
Comment 1: You cannot make progress in the wrong direction, it does not matter how much effort you put therein. The last kid embodies that saying.
It’s the same way many people here assume that the politicians and those we have in corporate spaces know what to do but simply don’t want to do them, until you you ask them if they have actually sat with these people, had conversations and assess their knowhow and awareness. One thing we do a lot here is to overrate people, assigning them enviable qualities that had never crossed their minds to begin with.
Never assume that the people you are dealing with know enough, they don’t! You will constantly get surprised when you get to work with many of those you rate highly, then all your doubts will be cleared.
Communicate constantly, and always ask if you have been understood, if they say yes, ask them to repeat what you just said or perform the very task, and the truth will surface.
