Is Your Message Preparing Your Team for When Adversity Hits?

As leaders, our words matter. Regardless of our audience, we must realize they impact three groups in particular:

1. The people we lead directly.

2. The other people within our organization.

3. The person who controls our employment.

Let’s think of that microphone in our face as a conduit to these groups.

Take injuries. No matter the sport, they inevitably occur, whether they’re caused directly by the competition or simply by happenstance. At times, injuries become a crutch. The coach, the players, the media. When a star player misses an extended number of games, it becomes like a substitute teacher day at grade school — no one is held accountable. Why? Not because no one cares but because they become a crutch from past conversations of sublimely telling the team we cannot win without our great player.

Great leaders never lower their expectations simply because of injuries. They don’t talk about players who are injured; they don’t answer questions about the impact of the injury, and most importantly, they are proactive all year in avoiding “the greatness talk” regarding any player. It’s not that they don’t want to recognize their talent or are miserable about doling out praise, but rather because those words will come back to haunt them if an injury were to occur. Every glowing comment ushered toward a player will give your team an excuse to lose when that star is absent. It’s human nature to flatter great talent. In essence, though, the praise is stating the obvious. You never want to state the obvious; your job is to control the non-obvious.

There are thousands of ways to offer praise without sounding like everyone else. The more praise you publicly share, the harder time you might have when injuries occur. Your players hear your words, they hear your praises, and they sublimely feel it offers them an excuse to lose if a star player goes down.

Never go to a press briefing or an informal gathering without understanding the three groups or having a prepared message for them. Think proactively about each word you choose, not just for today, but for the future. Think about how each word might come back to haunt you, not with the press but with the groups you directly engage.

Some might ask, aren’t you talking to the fans? No — not at all. Fans don’t want excuses. They’re called fans because they are fanatical for the team, and winning drives their love, much like the person in charge of your position. And in reality, the owner of the team or company became an owner because he or she is fanatical about the team.

Choose each word wisely and let’s make sure we control our own narrative for today, tomorrow and in the future.

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