Focusing on the Brilliant Basics
Focusing on the Brilliant Basics
Whilst coaching, and working with, senior leaders across industries through my various roles, I continue to use a lot of sports stories, insight and concepts in my work.
One of these is the concept of ‘brilliant basics’. It is something I have been talking about quite a bit now with senior leaders, in terms of how to navigate what, to many, feels like unchartered waters.
I have Sir Clive Woodward to thank for the concept. He wrote about it in his book How To Win. He tells the story of his meeting with Yehyda Shinar, an Israeli scientist whom a friend of Woodward had told him ‘had cracked the secret code to winners’. Woodward found himself on a flight to Tel Aviv to meet a man he had never met before. On arrival at the airport, this man walked up to Woodward and started speaking. Woodward said that he knew straight away he was involved in high performance because, like so many of the top athletes he had had the pleasure of working with, he did not bother to make any small talk.
Shinar’s opening question was: ‘What are the basics in rugby?’ Woodward found himself unable to give a clear answer, stating that he didn’t really know what was meant by the question. Shinar was bewildered at Woodward’s lack of understanding. He went on to say: ‘What are the non-negotiables? What are the things you have to get right? And if you cannot answer that, then the first thing you have to do is go back home and get all your coaches together. Each of you needs to come up with the basic things that you need to get right in a game of rugby to win the match.’
So this was exactly what Woodward did. With the result that everyone came up with different answers! (After much consultation and research, he and his team did of course manage to come up with a few simple fundamentals).
So how does this relate across to other domains? There are the ‘brilliant basics’ that any business or organisation needs to identify and get right in terms of what it is there to do, and how best to achieve it.
I have been finding however that it’s also a powerful concept to help senior leaders navigate their way through what many are seeing as a world far removed from one they have had to deal with before. For all sorts of reasons (as I keep saying, we can’t just say ‘AI’ as a reason for everything!)
And together with clients and others I work with we have been breaking it down as follows.
1. Mindset
Long-term readers of my blog will know my feelings on the importance of mindset. It is the starting point for everything. Everything flows from this. I’m so obsessed by this that I agreed to take on the role of Chair of an amazing legal consultancy which is actually named after a mindset – O Shaped – incorporating the 5 Os – Open, Opportunity, Optimism, Original, Ownership (an organisation which is blazing a trail through the legal sector in terms of how lawyers think).
Think back to Covid-times. The organisations that were most successful were those who adopted the ‘We will get through this’ mindset, with the follow up mindset of ‘How can we make sure this happens?’
Different mindsets work for different situations, environments and organisations, but it is the first brilliant basic you have to get right in order to navigate your way through the new world.
2. Questions
Again, long-term readers of my blog will know how much I advocate for the power of questions. I use them a lot in my coaching (with some examples here if you want to borrow some https://www.sportandbeyond.co.uk/blog/2021/10/20/the-power-bank-of-good-questions ). I also use them (and encourage them from others) in my Board roles.
The right questions can help you get to the heart of something. To understand what really matters. What’s really at stake. Why it’s important. And what your options are. Two key tips in this area: (i) build the element of asking questions into all your meetings/processes; and (ii) take time to really think about what the right questions are.
3. Challenge your Thinking
We all know the dangers of confirmation bias and group think. These can be even more prevalent when we are having discussions and making decisions in what can often feel like a time-pressured way. Make sure you build in enough time to robustly challenge your thinking. Whether that’s setting up a specific ‘red team’ exercise, making sure you have a nominated ‘devil’s advocate’ in the room, or using AI. I believe that, at the moment, this is one of the best uses of AI – using it to specifically identify what you are missing, what perspective you are ignoring, what unintended consequences might flow etc.
4. Involve the Right People
Time pressure (whether real or imagined) can often lead to us taking a short cut in terms of conversations we should be having, and people we should be including in any discussion or debate. This can be fatal. Not just in terms of making good decisions, but also in terms of the ability to execute successfully (if you have not included the right people in the journey to get there). Take time to consider the important stakeholders, and make sure you involve them.
5. Make Space
I’m a firm believer in not prevaricating, and the importance of actually making a decision. (I love this quote from James Clear: the sooner you make a choice, the sooner you can make an adjustment). However, I have noticed a shift over the last year or so where senior leaders feel a bit more rushed into making decisions. Perhaps feeling like their organisations can’t get left behind when everyone else seems to be running at 100 miles an hour. Sometimes this is the case – a decision has to be expedited. But often you have a little more time than you think. And it can be incredibly beneficial to let a decision ‘settle’ before you press the button on it. Create some space to breathe, reflect, consider, just in case anything material comes to mind (or to pass) that you hadn’t considered originally.
There are of course other brilliant basics for senior leaders at the moment, but these are the ones that seem to be most resonating. If they resonate with you, why don’t you pop them on a post-it note, and leave it somewhere visible, as a daily reminder in your busy and action-filled days?
PS – some of you may have seen this video doing the rounds on LinkedIn. If not, I heartily recommend this one minute listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W97UobO0UWs (Happiness is a 2x2 matrix).
For more on this or any aspect of leadership and performance, with a healthy dose of mindset, sport, and I hope usefulness thrown in, do feel free to browse through all the articles in the Huddle, or get in touch with me directly on catherine@sportandbeyond.co.uk. To order a copy of my book - Staying the Distance: The Lessons From Sport That Business Leaders Have Been Missing – click here .