In his excellent book, The Captain Class, Sam Walker identifies seven traits of elite captains from successful sports teams that can be applied to other fields, such as business. The seven traits are:
Extreme doggedness and focus in competition.
Aggressive play that tests the limits of the rules
A willingness to do thankless jobs in the shadows.
A low-key, practical, and democratic communication style.
Motivates others with passionate nonverbal displays.
Strong convictions and the courage to stand apart.
Ironclad emotional control.
It was the first trait that had me thinking the most, especially how it crosses over into the business world.
The author writes, "One of the most confounding laws of human nature is that when faced with a task, people will work harder alone than they will when joined in the effort - this is known as social loafing."
Social loafing is more pronounced in tasks where the contribution of each group member is combined into a group outcome, thereby making it difficult to identify the contribution of a single person.
If you have ever worked as part of a group, you have undoubtedly experienced this first-hand. And if you've led a group or team, then you will likely feel frustrated at the lack of effort that some members make.
Social loafers will:
Sap managers' energy, so they have less time for the top performers.
Reduce the quality of the group discussions.
Force others to develop ways to work around them, reducing efficiency.
Drive staff who seek excellence to quit.
Show the team you accept mediocrity, thus multiplying the problem.
The leading causes for social loafing (aside from poor hiring practices) are:
Lack of motivation for the tasks that need to be completed - menial tasks, lack of an overall plan, vision or strategy and arbitrary work assignments.
Diffusion of responsibility - not making it clear who owns which task, what resources are available, and when something is due "on spec, on budget, on time."
Group size and lack of accountability - too many people lead to a lower risk of being held accountable. Someone else is likely to step in and rescue the situation.
Managing expectations - unclear standards and rules, as well as lack of clarity for measuring performance.
Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce social loafing to make groups and teams more productive:
A clear narrative and story to explain what the group project is for. Link it to the benefits for your customers or clients.
Establish rules of the road for the group that the members helped co-create, understand and crucially buy into.
Assign tasks to the most appropriate individuals based on their skills and interests.
Highlight the achievements of individual members.
Delegate effectively to empower individuals: ensure a mutual understanding of what needs to be accomplished, provide guidelines, identify and free up resources for the person to utilise and be clear on the success criteria.
Coming back to the book, The Captain Class, as the first trait of elite captains, the author further writes,
"There is, however, an antidote. It's the presence of one person who leaves no doubt that they are giving it everything they've got.
The captains of the greatest teams in sports history had an unflagging commitment to playing at their maximum capability. Although they were rarely superior athletes, they demonstrated an extreme level of doggedness in competition and in their conditioning and preparation. They also put pressure on their teammates to continue competing even when victory was all but assured."
Performance is contagious.
📫 - Favourite quote
"There is a crack, a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in."
Leonard Cohen - Anthem
Put simply, the pursuit of perfection gets in the way of the work that we need to do. I wrote about this topic - here.
🧐 - Newly discovered content of interest
This YouTube video is very much worth 30 minutes of your time:
Springboard: the secret history of the first real smartphone
I took away four snippets from this look back at the history of the smartphone:
For any new product or service, the time needs to be right.
The first-mover advantage is overrated.
Incremental improvements versus revolutionary change.
The winners often write our history!
🧾 - An absorbing and insightful (short) read
Reading print versus digital screens.
Personally, I think the Kindle does an excellent job of replicating the reading experience from a physical page. For me, the Kindle comes close to the physical page, with phones, tablets and screens a distant third.
🐣 - Something I am doing differently or entirely new
I am ending my paid subscription to the Harvard Business Review.
Why?
The reality is that for me, the value of HBR is from the archives, the enduring content, and the evergreen content (which can be downloaded). I see little value in their current approach. From my perspective, HBR has fallen into two traps in the past few years:
First, many writers are plugging their new and upcoming books. Not only have these authors written this article, but inevitably they are doing the rounds of being a guest on popular podcasts. In the end, there is no point in buying the book as all the key points have been shared for free on the podcasts.
Second, HBR follows the crowd. It doesn't set the agenda and, quite frankly, isn't innovative. There are many more insightful Twitter threads, email newsletters, blogs and podcasts on hybrid working, I&D, ESG, investing, leadership, coaching and productivity, to name a few topics. HBR has prioritised the topic du jour and mainstream opinions.
If you value a third party curating high-quality content, then perhaps HBR is worth the subscription price. For me, not so much.
⚖ - If you did have the answer, what would it be?
Perhaps the following will provide insight and be of help with a problem you are currently facing:
Do you need a new perspective on a challenge you're struggling with?
Are you starting a new role and want to make a positive impact and quickly establish credibility?
My latest article is "Coaching for Chief Operating Officers in Financial Services."
The RYSE Journal - "A coach in your pocket."
All the best.
Rob