What a Kicker can Teach you About your Own Mistakes

We all make mistakes. It's part of what makes us human beings. We hope to learn from them, but without understanding more about why these mistakes happened, this can be difficult. Sometimes it can be hard to take an honest look back at a mistake, but often this is the only way to find out why it happened in the first place.

This past weekend two National Football League teams lost playoff games they could have easily won. A real time statistic called Win-Probability showed that the Minnesota Vikings had a 78% chance to win with 22 seconds remaining in their game, while the Cincinnati Bengals were even bigger locks to come out ahead, having greater than a 90% chance to win with less than two-minutes to play.

But both teams made crucial mistakes that cost them their games.

The Bengals had just intercepted the Pittsburgh Steelers, and only needed to run out time remaining on the clock. But shortly after fumbling the ball back to Pittsburgh, the Bengals were called for two major penalties. What's important to know is that these were conduct penalties given when a player loses his temper - essentially a mental error - rather than for a physical mistake. Pittsburgh took advantage of the better field position as a result and kicked the game winning field goal.

In the other game, the Vikings were lining up to kick a 27-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in their contest against the Seattle Seahawks. A kick at this distance is virtually a lock, and was something their kicker had done over and over again all season. In fact he had only missed once at that distance in his four year career, and only two kickers in the entire NFL missed a field goal under 30 yards this season. But despite these odds, he missed badly, and the Seahawks held on to win.

Today players and coaches from both teams are asking themselves "what if?”, wondering if there was anything they could have done differently.  While most of us may not work for professional sports teams, we can relate. If you work anywhere long enough, eventually you're going to make a mistake. Maybe it's something small, but maybe it's a big one. It could be embarrassing, cost your company money, clients, or customers. You might find yourself in the same place as these two football teams - asking "what if".

As I said earlier, it's important to step back to look at why these mistakes happened. Both teams wish things worked out differently, but these were two very different types of mistakes.

The Vikings had put themselves in the position to win the game. Their kicker had made kicks like that one, over and over again in games and practices. He could probably go out there today and make it right now. His preparation and skill has made him one of the best kickers in the league. He just missed.

But for the Bengals, there's more to it. Despite a similar physical mistake - the fumble - they were still leading and likely to win. But they lost control of their situation, and by committing those penalties, put themselves in the position to lose the game.

Look back at a recent mistake at your organizaiton. Did you put yourself in a position to be successful, or did you set yourself up for failure? Be honest.

Sometimes you do everything you can, and you just miss. Maybe a competitor underbids you, or maybe a quirk in the weather affects your inventory. If your processes are good, trust in your experience. Don’t overreact to a single miss.

Organizational Health - Have a Plan - or - "How to avoid the rabbit hole"

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

This quote is often attributed to Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland. While it actually paraphrases longer dialog between Alice and the Cheshire Cat, the message remains clear. Without a plan, you're likely to end up just about anywhere.

Consider two organizations. Both operate at the highest level in their industry. They are direct competitors, each with an extremely loyal customer base. But the similarities end there.

Organization 1 - This organization has been owned by the same family since the 1930s and has had only three changes in leadership since 1969. This organization is widely regarded as one of the most successful groups in its industry and typically performs well each year. It has been the top performing organization in the field six times since 1975.

Organization 2 - This organization has undergone numerous ownership changes and has changed leadership five times since 2008. The current owners have hired (and subsequently fired) nine individuals to fill their most publicly visible employee spot since 2012. This company tends to struggle, and according to a major metric, has had only one successful year since 1999.

It's not difficult to see why one organization succeeds while the other struggles. The first group clearly has a well-defined organizational strategy, with support from ownership through the front line employees.

The second group obviously lacks any cohesive organizational plan and has little alignment between ownership, management, and the employees. With that much turnover, everyone might need to wear name tags.

Of course stability doesn't guarantee success, but chronic instability makes success very difficult, if not impossible. Imagine working for a company that institutes sweeping changes every few years, and each time the new leaders claim "This time, we're going to do it the right way." They do this while knowing that the last team was fired after only a year or two. This creates an unhealthy, toxic environment where people are focused on self-preservation rather than organizational success.

The two organizations I've described above are two teams in the National Football League.

Organization 1 - Pittsburgh Steelers
Organization 2 - Cleveland Browns

You might say - "Well, these are professional football teams, the talent of the athletes on the field is what really matters, not the health of the organization."

Sure - any team may have a short run of success driven by pure talent and a bit of good fortune, but sooner or later, luck will run out. This holds true for professional sports, major corporations, small businesses, or any local organization.

Well defined strategic goals, metrics to track performance toward those goals, and alignment throughout the organization to achieve those goals can help any organization be successful over the long term.

Take some time to evaluate the goals of your organization and establish ways to track your progress. If you've created a solid plan, be patient, trust in the process.

Otherwise you'll spend all your time falling down rabbit holes.