Practice Winning

Leaders make a conscious effort to develop winning habit patterns for themselves and their team.

A “habit” is something that you or your team does in a regular and repeated (virtually automatic) way. In other words, winning can become a habit; unfortunately, so can losing.

There are two important principles to remember about habits: The first is that habits can be changed or developed. The second is that you don’t change or develop habits overnight; you change or develop them over time. How do you do it? You do it with continuous practice and repetition. For decades all sports teams have relied on an obvious principle that so many managers seem to overlook: “To play and win together, you must practice together.” Try to take this principle to heart.

Related: 3 Characteristics to Recognize and Master in 2018

As the coach and the leader, it’s up to you to set a practice regimen for your team.

Set aside time to show individual team members how to perform their jobs rather than just telling them. Role-play or “drill for skill” at every opportunity.

Use repetition to help build positive skills, attitudes and habits that become a natural part of each team member’s automatic behavior. Then pull your people together to practice critical success factors as a team.