Doing Nothing is Something

Have you ever seen a foul occur in a soccer match that results in a penalty kick? It leaves the goalkeeper at a distinct disadvantage. His or her team is relying on a stop, but it’s next to impossible to make one. Over 80 percent of the time, a score takes place, and when the average number of goals is just slightly above 2.5, these kicks hold incredible importance. So what do most goalkeepers do? They jump right or left 94 percent of the time — as if guessing was going to make a difference.

A panel of three independent judges studied 311 penalty kicks from the top leagues and championships across the world to analyze the direction of each kick. The study found that they were distributed evenly — right, left and center. But when the goalkeeper didn’t jump in one direction or the other, they had a 60 percent chance of making a save. Not moving increased the odds of making a play.

So if doing nothing helped the odds of making a save, why did the goalkeeper always jump? Well, because when asked later, they would say that doing nothing seemed lazy, as if they were not trying. By taking action, right or left, the effort to make a save was apparent to all.

And there lies the obstacle we all must overcome as leaders/teachers. Doing nothing can be taking action. Being patient is a plan. Being thoughtful and tactical is part of the strategy toward making the best decision. Admittedly, there are times when inaction can cause problems. Knowing when to act and when to do nothing is paramount to our overall success. However, when the time is right to do nothing, we must sell nothing as hard as we sell action. We all want to take action. We all want to demonstrate our leadership through our plans, our movements, and our behavior. During those times of inaction, it’s paramount to convince those we lead that doing nothing is actually showing effort and restraint, which are both vital.

When we do nothing, we:

1. Learn a great deal through the lens of others. Doing nothing does not mean taking time off. It means observing before acting.

2. We ask better questions when we collect more critical data. The key to solving severe problems is not in the answers, but in the questions we ask. When we take our time in thought, we understand the best questions to ask.

3. When the leader is patient, the rest of the team learns how to be patient. When we act impatient or get annoyed by others and lose our patience, it makes it hard to sell our team on the value of doing nothing. Patience spreads through the leader.

Don’t jump right or left. Stay in the center of the goal and show everyone you have the patience to make the save.

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