Leadership
Some Quick Reflections on Baseball and Leadership
This is the time of year that always signals a rejuvenation for me. The flowers and trees begin to bloom, grass turns green and a new baseball season begins. As a young boy, I can remember oiling my glove, hooking it onto the handlebars of my bicycle and playing ball every possible moment from dawn until dusk. It was an exciting and fun time.
There are many lessons of leadership one can learn from the game of baseball. In its simplicity, the game of baseball provides many opportunities to practice leadership skills that are easily transferred to your school or business.
For me the first one to focus on is an easy task. Look good in your uniform. I can remember paying meticulous detail to how my socks looked before I took the field. I always believe when you look good, you feel good and will somehow play better. I know that superior talent will usually win out, but in a close game, who knows what may happen? At work, come dressed for success. Coming to work slovenly sends a message. Is this the type of negative message you want students to know about you?
Secondly, it is important to run on and run off of the field. Hustle! Get to your position and be ready to play. When the inning is over, hustle to the bench and be ready to bat. At work, be at your duty /work station on time and ready to work. In a school environment, many times we have to relieve one another on a duty post. What message do you send to your colleagues when you always arrive late and unprepared for action? Would you go to your baseball game in the second inning? I doubt it.
Keep your head in the game. Know the score, know the situation, know the balls and strikes on the batter and know how many outs there are. I have seen too many situations where an outfielder took his time with the ball not knowing how many outs the team had. While he was holding the ball jogging into the dugout, the runners were rounding the bases. His head was not in the game. Is your head in the game at school? Do you know your curriculum, special assignments for the day, or the time of a school-wide activity? When the baseball player is out in the field, he should always be thinking of what he is going to do with the ball if it is hit to him. In the classroom or school, you too must be thinking of what you will do sequentially in any situation. Especially in today’s environment, it is important that you have reviewed your role mentally for a specific type of emergency drill. You are just like the baseball player because once the ball is hit, he has to react in the field. There is no time for planning. The same is true in a crisis situation at your school. You just have to react.
As a batter, always run hard to first base. You never know what will happen. The outfielder that you just hit the ball to, might be having a mental lapse and his incompetence can give you the extra base. This extra base could translate to a win for you. You can see the rookies and new players always run hard. It bothers me to see the veteran making millions of dollars casually jog to first base. What message is he sending to the rookie? It is not the message I want delivered on my team. This scenario is applicable in the world of teaching. You do not want your novice teachers to get into the bad habits that some of your veterans may exhibit. In past posts, I have spoken about the “dark side”. In any place of business, you must work hard to prevent your employees from traveling to this mystical but actually a mentally very real place. You will not win in the long term when too many of your employees are operating from the dark side.
If you follow any sports team, at times you may see a team sign to a contract a veteran player, who is clearly not the player he once was. However, he brings to the team and locker room an intangible quality. You will hear people say that he is “good in the locker room”. You need people in your school that are just like that. They are good in the school. They provide a certain chemistry that keeps the culture positive. Many times, you may ask that person to stay on an extra year because of the chemistry he brings to your team. He is that important. Please never forget this. You need these positive people in any organization.
Great players rarely take a day off. The same is true of great principals and great teachers. You are on the job 24/7. You practice hard, you come early to practice and you work at your craft. Leaders have to work at being leaders. I remember in my coaching career when I took over a team with exceptional talent but with terrible work ethic. We required players to participate in skill drills in a pre-practice session before practice actually started. One day as I left the locker room to hit the field, I saw a player, who thought he was a star lounging on the sideline while everyone else was working. I asked what he was doing and he told me practice did not start and he was resting. I did not take this well. At my not so subtle urging he quickly joined the pre-practice session. He did not feel pre-practice was necessary and he told me that he had never done that before. I very “politely” explained that we would practice like champions and if did not want to be part of the team he should leave. He joined us on the field but about three weeks later, after another lackadaisical effort, I had to dismiss him from the team. The other players got the message. We became a team that day. We also went on to win a state championship.
Lastly, I want to talk about fighting out of a batting slump. There is nothing worse in baseball than being mired in a long slump without getting a hit. Soon the mental anguish takes over and before you know it your mechanics are off. The same is true in a school or business. There are times when you get bogged down. However, you know what to do and you know how to do it. Stay true to your beliefs and work hard and I believe you will soon get out of your slump. Principals and teachers can get into slumps. But just like the baseball player, stay focused and work hard and you will break out of it.
In closing, earn your pay. Live up to your expectations, stay positive and do the job that you are supposed to do. When this happens, baseball teams and the school will operate like a well-oiled machine. You will be champions.
