With my favorite time of year nearing (Fall) and the imminent sound of football talk (my favorite sport) I was reminiscing about the sport itself. As my mind wandered on the various rules of the game I started recalling how the CEO of one of my past employers always used football analogies in his "pep" talks to the leadership team. At the time, our company seemed to be stuck on the 20 yard line with 80 yards to get to the goal. But the concept always helped prompt the discussion and the brain waves of group think.
The positives were, as our CEO and team leader, he truly looked at us as a team and he had a goal. The challenge was...."Who to put in the lineup and how to reach that goal". As the CEO, he may have been the quarterback, but he realized that without the whole team doing its part, there was no way the company could maneuver through many of its challenges. Some of us would joke privately and say..."We think our opponents are moving the goal line in the middle of the night!" In any case, it seemed we were always strategizing how to get off that 20 yard line and whether to throw a Hail Mary pass.
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But life and work are not necessarily always like a game. Although the football gods have found ways to change the rules of the game over time as players abilities have evolved, the tough rules of business are not always as easy to change.
Another one of our executives was a very influential leader in the community and had been a neighbor of one of the past Kansas City Chief's coach team. The person had moved on to be the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. When our company was going through some pretty difficult times, this executive was able to get the coach to visit one of our leadership meetings during one of the Colts trips to KC. (No....Peyton Manning didn't get to come...darn). But the concept itself was pretty cool and further fed that team feeling.
Our company faced many challenges in those days. We were on a difficult path. But we were fortunate to have a strong leader step into the CEO role and guide us through our final years.
It has been six years since the company sold off its assets and my past colleagues have gone in many directions. Many have been fortunate and found roles that they have been able to excel in, others have ventured through various paths trying to find the right fit. Some have retired from the workforce while there are a few who still continue to search for that next opportunity.The one thing that seems to have happened is that many of us still remain very close as friends and provide each other a moral support structure. You wonder why that might be? Especially given the circumstances we were under it would have been very easy to point fingers and step aside. But in those final years our company, that had once been in the fortune 30, found itself hanging on for survival. The things that held us together was that concept of team and fortitude. We experienced first hand what happens when a variety of things don't necessarily go as planned. Those of us who stayed through the final days have formed somewhat of an alma mater feeling towards those final years. We became more of a family and true team players rather than individual contributors.
That feeling was made possible through a lot of effort by many people. We were a public utility so we knew we needed to "keep the lights on" through those final days. The sale process spanned almost 18 months and the leadership team had to execute many feats to keep things on track. When individuals left, we had to backfill positions or pick up the work slack. When things got tough with the sale process we had to work with our sale partners to find alternative paths to reach the goal line. In the end, the sale culminated right as the bottom fell out of the job market (July 2008). For those of us who stayed, whether we have landed in a new successful venture or not, we've learned many things that we may have never realized had we not gone through the experience.
- Team and family are important. They are the ones who will be there in the end and get you to that goal line. Individual effort is great but if have professionals pulling on opposite sides of the rope you will end up in a stale mate.
- When in survival mode, it doesn't help to try to place blame and point fingers. If you are down by 21 points in the third quarter, you'll never get anywhere unless the whole team is on board.
- People react more positively to openness and transparency. If they feel you are hiding something they are less likely to be a good teammates. In those final months our CEO would hold "town hall meetings". Now you might think that was a bit of a risk but the employee base embraced the concept because of the openness and honesty with which questions were addressed.
- Treat everyone with respect and I mean everyone. Not just your manager or senior executive, but every person who came to work in those final days deserved a pat on the back. One team building thing we had going at the time was the fact that the son of our payroll manager was in the final competition for American Idol. It was great coming together to watch him compete each week and watch the beaming face of his mother as she sat in the audience. When he won the title it was a phenomenal feeling, almost like he was family.
- Try to maintain perspective when faced with work and career challenges. Things happen everyday and they aren't necessarily worked through in the manner planned. Companies come and go, leadership changes, jobs and roles evolve, strategy shifts; it is all a part of business. It is definitely a challenge if not somewhat of a battle, but that doesn't mean you lost the war or the end of the world has arrived. Our leadership during this challenging time maintained a strong and consistent physical and emotional presence. Employees all felt they could ask any question needed. No matter how stressful the situation got we were reassured by the executive and calm presence of our most senior leaders. Yes, the company was going to close but life would and has continued to move on.
- As life moves on you may never recapture that same experience you had with a previous employer just like you may never recapture that first love, but what is important is what you choose to do with what you learned from the experience. Recognize that you didn't get where you are today by yourself. You most likely had help along the way. And if you fumbled, there was probably a teammate there to recover the fumble. You will never score if you don't recognize the value of pulling together.
- Last.... I once read that "failure is a good thing...really!" That is so very true. Had the people that experienced that particular time in our company not recognized and experienced the multiple ups and downs, they would have missed out on the many learnings that were brought to bear.
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By Lynn Fountain, CGMA, CRMA, MBA