At the heart of it, mastery is practice. "Mastery
is staying on the path."
~ George Leonard (US pioneer in human potential )
We often hear managers complaining that their employees aren't
productive, don't listen and just can't consistently get the
job done. As a youth sports coach, I hear coaches with similar
complaints-the kids don't listen, don't know where to go and
don't try very hard. I can't relate. The boys on my team are
usually focused, do what I ask of them, and work hard. As
a business owner, my employees are focused, do what I ask
of them and work hard. What am I doing that is different from
the rest? And what can this teach you about running a successful
small business?
As a coach, i make my boys' jobs very simple. I ask
only two things of them. I ask them to master one shot and
i ask them to be aware of what is going on around them. Of
course we work on defensive and offensive strategy, but both
of those revolve around the two keys that I gave them for
success-awareness and mastery.
I teach awareness by constantly asking them to be aware of
where the ball is and at the same time to be aware of their
teammates are and where their opponents are. I teach them
how to see the ball and their opponent when he doesn't have
the ball. Sounds simple, but for ten year olds this is work.
I teach mastery by assigning homework to each boy. The second
week of practice, they have to show me a spot on the court
from which they can make a shot every time. I don't care if
it is from just two feet under the basket. I want them to
know they can make it every single time. As the season progresses,
they may gradually move their spot further and further out,
but i still ask that they be able to make their shot every
timeunguarded in practice.
These two simple concepts have a tremendous effect on the
boys during their games. They have incredible confidence in
their ability to make shots because they "know"
that they will always make it. I don't need to yell at them
like other coaches about where they should be on the court
because they have developed awareness of what they are doing and seeing. Now let's see
how you can use this in your successful small business.
As a business owner, I put these two key principles to work
in training my employees. From the first day on the job, I
work with them to be aware of what tasks are needed, what
I expect of them, how I want customers treated, etc. And I
ask them to master tasks and customer scripts. Once they are
mastered, I open it up for them to adlib just like with my
players. When correction is needed, it is usually in one of
these two areas. They are either unaware of what is needed
or they haven't mastered the task at hand.
Not only does following these two concepts make it easy for
me to get results with my players and employees, it also brings
incredible results. My first team lost only one game all season
and my employees rarely lose a sale. My businesses and products
win awards earned by my employees. And, as a bonus, everyone
enjoys themselves with this simple structure. I knew I was
doing it right when the father of one of my boys told me that
his boy enjoyed practice so much that he chose to come to
practice instead of going to see our professional basketball
team play one night. And i know it works with my employees
because they show up on time happy, focused and ready to work.
Remember, awareness and mastery are two essential
keys to a successful small business.
Business consultant and professional speaker Michael Clark
has been helping businesses including Fortune 500 companies
such as IBM and Cellular One succeed for over 20 years. Michael
is a serial entrepreneur having opened multiple successful
businesses over the last 12 years. Learn more at
http://www.biznbeyond.com
