In sports, when a coach has a losing season, everyone asks what they are going to do to get the team back to winning. Their answer almost always involves renewed focus on the fundamentals. They talk about focusing on conditioning, getting stronger, proper technique and working together as a team. The fundamentals. No matter what the sport.
Coach John Wooden, the former UCLA basketball coach who won ten NCAA championships in 12 years (including a record seven in a row), was famous for focusing on the fundamentals. He didn’t start off the season focusing on layups, free throws or three-pointers—he focused on socks. That’s right. Socks. The first thing he taught his players, at the beginning of every season, was how to properly put on their socks. A bunched-up sock could lead to a blister, and a blister could affect a player’s ability to play well or, worse yet, cause him to miss a game.
Coach Wooden made his players tuck in their shirts and keep their hair short. Bill Walton, one of the greatest players to play under Coach Wooden, said he didn’t want to cut his hair; he said Coach couldn’t make him get a haircut—that he didn’t have the right to insist on that. And Coach Wooden replied: “You are correct, Bill. I don’t have that right. I just have the right to determine who’s going to play. And we’re going to miss you …” Check out the video.
In business, as in sports, the difference between winning and losing comes down to the team’s ability to focus on and execute the fundamentals day after day, week after week. A truly great team—and the successful individuals who make it up—focuses on the fundamentals month after month and, even, year after year.
Let’s look at a few of the Fundamentals of an executive’s job from our 7F’s of True Success Executive Fundamentals of Work. We developed this workbook several years ago to help leaders lead better. Here are some key takeaways:
- Vision. Do you have a well-thought-out vision for where you want the company to be in the future? Is it a secret, or does everyone know and understand your vision?
- Does the organization operate with clear values? Are those values documented and carried out in all that you do?
- Communications. Are you communicating the vision, values and goals every day and to everyone? Yes, every day and absolutely to everyone. Before making a big decision, do you stop to consider whether or not it is compatible with your values?
- “Stay” interviews (employee retention.). Which valued employee do you want to meet with and affirm so you can make sure he or she is committed to staying with the company? Set up that meeting now.
- 500-pound gorilla. Just about every company has something big that is wrong or dysfunctional. This usually is something that everyone knows about but nobody talks about. Face your gorilla, and work to make it go away—or, at least, put it on a diet.
If you’d like to view the entire Executive Fundamentals of Work, go to: Executive Fundamentals of Work
Whatever your business, make sure you understand and know how to perform the Fundamentals of your work. Break down your job into critical areas of success. Take time each month to review and assess your progress in each of these areas. These Fundamentals are key to doing what you do better.