I am often asked how my long tenure as a college basketball coach translates to the boardroom. Do the same tenets apply to the strategies surrounding an advanced scouting report or an in-game decision translate to the corporate setting?
My answer… Yes and no. The speeds at which decisions have to be made are vastly different, but the impact and preparation are the same. Before I give you my bullets, let me define two very important groupings that drive my conversations. If you know and practice these items throughout my suggested process, the advice will have a chance to lead you to a deal that results in meaningful work and a meaningful relationship.
Understand:
Communication vs Connection: What I want from you vs What I want for you
Collaboration vs Cooperation: Shared responsibility and ownership vs Individual ownership
Let me try to break down a workable process and draw a parallel between the court and the boardroom.
As a leader:
- It’s crucial to have clarity in terms of what decision you are making. It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised with how many people get off track here, mistaking activity for productivity.
- It is paramount to examine the repercussions if you fail. What’s the fallout?
- Accountability is job #1. Know who is accountable… not for the purposes of blaming, but for the function of the team. If accountability is clear, the roles of each team member become glaring and decisions are made by the right people at the right time. Collaborate and cooperate.
- In order to close the deal, whether it’s selling an adjustment to your team in a timeout or closing a deal across the negotiation table, both sides need to understand and articulate why this deal matters to the other side. Connect and communicate.
- The importance of knowing and explaining the cost of inaction has to be broached. Whether it’s getting your team to execute at crunch time or working with an organization through the proposal of hiring you, what happens if we balk? What happens on their end if they do not hire us? This is not a dictation but more of an attempt to bring the “close” to more of a collaborative and cooperative crescendo.
- The timing issue: Why is it important for us to join forces now and not later? Why now and not later?
What happens if we don’t solve this problem?
As much as I’d love selling and negotiating to be a linear process, it’s far from it. And quite frankly, if it were, everyone would be able to do it. It cannot be put into an AI formula. When dealing with humans, my advice is to be human. Practice radical truth and radical transparency, and that will allow for all sides to move towards meaningful work and meaningful relationships… and the answer to the last question becomes more of a causeway than a roadblock.
If you’d like to share your experience or communicate and connect with me, you can DM me here or go to www.peakscouts.com and join our growing community.
Dave Dagostino
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