Earlier this month on vacation, I found myself in Huntington Beach, CA. (better known in some circles as "Surf City").  My visit just happened to coincide with the finals of the U.S. Open Surfing championships.  Curious too see what this kind of sporting event would be like, my brother, who I was visiting, took me out onto the Huntington Beach Pier in time to watch the men’s final event. It had come down to the two top surfers - hometown native, Brett Simpson and South African, Jordy Smith - the number one ranked surfer in the world.

The two highly respected surfers paddled out to see what waves they might catch - as thousands of fans and on-lookers watched from the beach and the pier.  The only problem - no waves.  The ocean offered nothing - or at best very little.  

Smith and Simpson spent the first 15 minutes of their 35 minute heat waiting for something to ride.

I found myself pondering this dilemma and drawing the obvious parallels between these two surfer’s dilemma and what we all face in our everyday lives - waiting and hoping for the right wave.

As the heat wore on, Simpson made his move with whatever decent wave came his way.  From my novice eye, I was amazed at what he was able to do with waves that appeared tiny and impossible to leverage.  Smith waited and waited - finally grabbing, too late in the game, whatever he could and was not able to execute.  Simpson’s heat total of 13.97 our of 20 topped Smith’s score of 8.33 making him the first back-to-back U.S. Open winner since 1985-1986.

The hometown hero edged out the legend and as one commentator said, "He turned garbage into gold - he was smart, not lucky."

This experience has stayed with me as a great reminder that when we are "lucky" enough to get the right waves, things smoothly and seamlessly go our way.  But more often, we have to do the very best we can with the opportunities that come our way - and those opportunities may be hard to see, challenging to surface and require an extraordinary amount of persistence and commitment but in the end, the victory is somehow sweeter.

Work with the waves that come your way.

Former UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden died at age 99 on June 4, 2010.  His legacy as a coach will live on and even in retirement - through speeches and books - he translated the lessons he shared with his championship teams to business professionals and anyone who wanted to discover the champion within themselves.  

To honor the man and create an opportunity to remind each of us what he said, I share a few of the quotes that always struck a chord with me:

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

"If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"If you are not making mistakes, you aren’t doing anything.  I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming."

"Success is never final, failure is never fatal.  It is courage that counts."

The list of memorable quotes could go on for much longer but I will stop here.  His track record tells us that he knows a thing or two about motivation, success and the meaning of true teamwork.  When his coaching career ended in 1975 his Bruins’ had won their 10th NCAA championship in 12 seasons - a record that will almost certainly never be matched.  Pull out one of these maxims the next time you have an opportunity to coach and inspire.

Greetings Colleagues, Clients and Community Members,

Mari Pat Varga

For a copy of our Spring Newsletter, visit:   http://tinyurl.com/ygcrdkz

As a leader, you are always looking for new ways to engage and enlist your team.  The following is an opportunity to consider.

With a mature and seasoned team, one of the most powerful and fast, exercises you can take your team through is one where the feedback your team hears is from each other - not you, their leader.

If you have ten team members, as an example, carve out an afternoon where each person will have the opportunity to sit with each team member for 10 minutes.  During their ten minutes, they will each have five minutes to share the following with one another:

• Here is what you do, specifically, that most helps the team succeed
• Here is what you do, specifically, that most stands in the way of success

An example of how this might sound between Susan and Stan (Susan sharing her feedback with Stan during her five minutes) is:

Susan:  "Stan, from my perspective, one of the things that you do that contributes most to our team success is your follow-up.  I don’t know of anyone who is as disciplined and through as you are in this regard.  I always know where the project stands and that saves me a lot of time and worry."

Susan:  "Stan, in terms of something you do that stands in the way of success, I would suggest it might be that at times you tend to over-communicate.  There are days when I receive as many as 20 e-mails from you on the same topic when one summary e-mail would suffice.  I appreciate you considering to make adjustments here.  Any questions?  Thanks for listening. Now, it is your turn to give me feedback…"

For a team of ten, you will want to allow about two hours.  In advance, designate 10 meeting spots and create a list that includes the pairings, the places and the time slots.

The key to this exercise is not to give any advance notice and instead surprise the team with the assignment.  This helps with spontaneity and candor when people don’t spend time in advance preparing what they have to say.

After the fast feedback rounds have all taken place, it can be effective to bring the team back together and debrief.  While no one should be asked to share specifics, general questions can help process the activity.

• How did you like (or not like) the process?
• What did you learn about yourself - others?
• What was the most powerful discovery?

Again, this exercise is for a seasoned team who wants to take their collaboration and commitment to the next level.  The kind of candor and intimacy this exercise produces might not be appropriate for a newly organized team who are still getting to know one another.  

As the new year approaches, this could be a powerful way to enter 2010 with an even stronger team.

Ideally, individuals are assigned to a leadership position within an organization because they are trusted, highly competent, great with customers and know how to enlist and engage their people.

With that high level of competence comes an assumption that they don’t need much guidance or handholding.  They are big boys and girls, being paid accordingly and know what to do and simply need to be given the runway to make it happen.

What then, is the role of their boss - the CEO, President or Business Head?  Beyond that, what else would support their success?  Here are a couple of ways the leader of leaders can stay connected and provide additional support:

1.   Make Time for Monday Morning Huddles / Friday Wrap-Ups – Gather your leaders on Monday mornings to share key focus areas for the week.  This creates an opportunity for your team to report on their progress against goals and ask for help if needed.  It also gives you a chance to continually review what they see as priorities and offer course correction as needed.  It is also an efficient platform for you to share your immediate goals, offer additional guidance and direction and a bit of motivation.  Bringing the team together at the end of the week – whether in person or a 30 minute teleconference – to review progress made and align plans for the following week can be helpful to keep the team focused and engaged.

2.   Surprise them with Impromptu Check-Ins – Nothing matters more to your leaders than one-on-one time with you.  When you find yourself with an open pocket of time – reach out to one of your key leaders with a quick phone check in, meaningful e-mail or to grab a cup of coffee.  Get to know them on both a personal and professional basis – that relationship building goes a long way to building loyalty.

3.   Develop Signature Questions – What do you really want to know from your team of leaders?  What would give you the best insight into how they are doing?  Get your team used to core questions that you always want them to be prepared to answer like:

a.   What is keeping you up at night?

b.   What has you fired up and inspired at the moment?

c.    What opportunity are you most excited about?

d.   What do you see as your biggest threat to accomplishing your goals?

e.   What do you need from me?

  Superior leadership requires staying in touch and keeping the dialogue robust.