There are 2 things that Mozart and Messi have in common. Both showed genius from an early age. Both also worked and sweated and practiced for years before the world saw that talent.
A professional orchestra musician practices 2-3 hours a day minimum, plus actual performances of course. No professional musician can expect to reach the level required without years, or even decades of practice, learning, and more practice. Same for sportspeople.
Of all the truly great composers, even those who started very young (Mozart performed his first piece in public aged 5..) none created anything “great” until they had been composing for at least 10 years. Not one. Likewise every famous sportsperson who ever played. Years of rigorous discipline and practice are universally the only road to success for people with talent.
If practice and discipline are vital for talented people in creative arts or competitive sport, they are even more so in organizations run by “average” people.
That’s why the 5th and final decision for leaders in BalancedKaizen is to adopt Routines.
Remember a great organization is great at Solving Problems. No complex problem was ever solved immediately. Ever. Unless you’re uniquely lucky enough to solve every one of your issues first time every time, you’ll need resilience and discipline enough to keep going until you do.
A key part of your job as a leader is not just to acknowledge the importance of Routines in growing the skill of your team, but to create a Culture in which routines are integrated into daily life. Setting of routines isn’t somebody else’s job, it’s yours.
Routines in an organization can be very simple things. Regular performance updates with consistent agendas and standard data reports. Logical & repeated connections between team goals and Corporate strategy give meaning to team activities. Long term strategic goals that don’t change every year help create yearly calendars with “seasons” to plan, do, review and celebrate.
A leader’s commitment to these small things signals it is safe for their people to commit time on the bigger things.
Routines and repetition are the secret to learning. In fact they are the only way we learn. They are more important to your team members simply because they don’t know what you know. Your direction and priorities might be clear to you but your team has to learn them.
“No complex problem was ever solved immediately. Ever..”
Anything over a week isn’t a Routine. Apart from some of the big “seasonal” things you do every year, for some reason only weekly or less seem to create value. Serious players don’t practice once a month. Monthly or quarterly Financial reporting may look like a routine but isn’t enough to create learning. Those who established weekly religious observances thousands of years ago understood this well.
Do you think that email you sent or the speech you made are enough to gain understanding? Investing the time to repeat a message over time sends a strong subconscious message to your team on what is really important to you. If you don’t repeat it, they won’t get it.
[This works both ways – what you frequently refer to reveals your true priorities. If they don’t match your published priorities, don’t expect engagement or trust.]
When you create rhythm in the life of your team those things that are now ideas can become subconscious knowledge.
Commitment to Routines demonstrates commitment to a long term view and resistance to distraction. It shows you have a clear vision in your mind about where you’re going when you’re happy to invest time into repeated practice.
If it was important for Mozart and Messi, its important for your team as well.
