When Leadership Is Missing

By Keith J Johnston

If you are a sports enthusiast you understand the concept of momentum in sports and the importance of momentum in the success or failure of your team. A key to building and maintaining momentum in sports, and in business, is leadership. When leadership is missing it is difficult, if not impossible, to create the momentum necessary to win.

While photographing a high school football game a few years ago, I watched in agony as the home town team fell behind by 28 points in the first quarter. Although this was not an insurmountable lead, you could see the energy drain from the team as the visitors took advantage of their mistakes. The tide turned in the second quarter, and the home team scored a touchdown. A few minutes later the home team intercepted a pass and ran it in for a second score, closing the gap to 14 points. I thought this was the perfect time for the team leaders to step in to fire up the team and sustain the momentum that had been generated. As I looked to the players, I was shocked to see the same depressed looks and negative body language that I had seen just a few minutes earlier. Not a single player was shouting words of encouragement or making an attempt to convince their teammates that the game was not over. If they could score again quickly, they would be right back in the game. I wandered down the sideline in total disbelief, and ran into a fellow photographer who was the parent of one of the home team players. I looked at her and said: "Scotty, I can't believe what I am seeing." Scotty completed my thought with her own words: "I know what you are going to say: "No leadership." She added that this had been a problem the whole season. Parents and fans had come to realize there was little hope for a victory once their team fell behind by more than a touchdown. The final score of the game was 52 - 14. This was not a situation of one team being far superior to the other, as each team had a 2 - 2 record coming into the game, this was a prime example of what happens when leadership is missing.

I reflected on the game the next day. I recalled situations in my career where leadership was lacking. One case in particular involved a large consulting project for an oil company in Houston. The project represented a major undertaking for the consulting firm, and several aspects of the project involved new technologies and untested processes. A few months into the project it became apparent that the original estimates were far too low and the consulting firm would incur substantial losses if it were to deliver what it had promised. The situation deteriorated, finger pointing began, and the project went from bad to worse. Like the football game, there were no leaders who emerged to turn the situation around or turn what seemed to be an inevitable outcome into a positive experience. The difference between this business case and the football game is that the consulting firm was able to bring in a new leadership team to take control of the project. With a new team and a new approach the project was brought under control, and although the consulting firm incurred financial losses, they were able to leverage the experience they gained on this project to ultimately dominate a new market and bring in profits which more than made up for their losses.

How about you? Do you find that your organization has a difficult time building momentum, or do you have leaders in your organization who can step up and turn a negative situation into a positive one? Have you tried to tap into leadership skills that may be lying dormant on your team? More importantly, do your people understand leadership? In most cases leadership is missing simply because organizations have never taken the time to educate and empower their teams with leadership skills. If there are natural leaders on your team, you may be in luck, assuming the situation arises that sparks the natural leader into action. Successful sports teams and businesses do not leave leadership to chance. They invest time in helping their people realize their leadership potential. The organizations that take the time to invest in their people, their principal asset, find that the rewards far outstrip the costs.

JOB, JOBS, EMPLOYMENT

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