Focus, Pivot, Build Confidence

I want to begin by stating that I am not a New England Patriot fan or an apologist for the team. I actually rooted against them in the Super Bowl. This might be the fact that being an Ohio State fan, I cannot root for Tom Brady from the “School up north.” Further, as a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan, watching a past coach, whom we fired succeed with another team, is heart wrenching. However, what I witnessed, as many others did, was an incredible example of what a successful leader in a successful organization can accomplish.

The success of the Patriots was not based on only the actions in this game, but is a part of the essence of the organization and specifically their coach. It began from the pre-season practices and meetings that each player and coach attending. In those meetings, three important values were shaped to lead to the victory in the Super Bowl.

Focus on Your Strategic Vision – The first value is that a leader stays focused on the strategic vision of the organization, and make sure the rest of the organization is focused as well. For Bill Belichick, the focus from the first day of practice was to win the Super Bowl. It was not to make it through the season and play well, but their strategic vision was to be the best football team in the league. Even when there were a few obstacles, which we will discuss later, Belichick kept the entire organization focused on the vision. This did not wane in the game, even at 28-3, but was the force the drove the team.

As a leader, this is needed in all organizations. When an organization begins to falter, it often means the leadership has lost focus of the strategic vision. It causes the organization to begin to operate in fear, which leads to basing decisions on false information and creates operational units to silo and not partner. When a leader can stay focused on the strategic vision, and continually remind their team, then the opportunity for success will be more possible even when obstacles arise.

Pivot and Make Adjustments – The Super Bowl was not the beginning of the Patriots success but was the culmination of their organizational identity and desire to be successful. As I watched the game, I said to friends of mine that I was still concerned about the Patriots because Bill Belichick is able to make the necessary adjustments to refocus the team to be successful in the game. This could be seen in the Super Bowl and the domination that the Patriots showed in the last portion of the game.

However, this was not the first major obstacle the team faced. The beginning of the year started with the team’s number one quarterback, Tom Brady, suspended for the first four games of the year. Belichick needed to make an adjustment to the team in order for them to be successful and not just maintain. The strategic vision and goal was still the same with the adjustment, winning the Super Bowl.

When an organization faces obstacles, successful organizations will make the needed adjustments to continue to move forward towards fulfillment of the vision and not only maintain. I have been a part of organizations that when obstacles influenced the vision of the organization, it would create chaos. The leadership would not be prepared or know to make the necessary adjustments or pivot their idea and would move to fear based model of operations. This would then lead to silos in the organization. Other organizations back off and maintain their current place when obstacles influence a vision, which can be good, but many organizations stay in the maintaining stance and never adjust or pivot towards operational success.

Team Confidence – The final piece for the Patriot’s success in the Super Bowl was the confidence that the team had from their coach. Bill Belichick from the beginning of the season instilled confidence in the players on his team. Confidence is not only telling the player they are doing a good job, but more importantly it comes from believing in them as a person. Belichick has the ability to not only access talent and form them into a part of the team but he has real belief in the abilities of his players and pushing them to success.

A successful organization is lead by an individual that is able to bring the best of their team or teams. This begins by a leader believing in the players’ talents, skills, and knowledge they bring to their position, and pushing them to excel. This belief leads to the confidence of the entire team to succeed in accomplishing the strategic vision or project of the organization.

An organization with an environment where employees do not have confidence to succeed appears when employees do not feel like the leaders believe in their talents, skills, and knowledge of their positions. Lack of confidence often spreads and causes an organization to lose focus of the vision and to operate in fear. As long as though leaders stay, the environment will probably not change. That is why building confidence is needed at the beginning is an essential element of the organization and not a “program” that is created when times are bad. 

As an organization, the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl at the beginning of the year, and more accurately, 17 years ago when the organization brought Bill Belichick as their head coach and he began to build a team that would continually stay focus on the strategic vision and goals. The team learned to make adjustments and pivot when obstacles arose. Finally, he instilled belief in every person that was a part of the organization, which lead to the confidence to produce the success the organization strove.

As a leader, are you doing this now? If not, what do you need to do to begin moving in this direction?