Leaders Make Adjustments
This past Monday night the University of Kansas beat the University of North Carolina, 72-69, to win the men’s NCAA basketball championship.
Even if you are not a college basketball fan, as I am, you ought to admire the way in which Kansas won this game. Why? They were down by 16 points in the first half and trailed by 15, 40-25, at halftime. It would be the biggest comeback in the history of the NCAA championship game.
How could one team, so devastated and distraught in the first half, engineer such a dramatic turnaround with only 15 minutes at half time to confer and strategize.
They did it because their coach, Bill Self, made time to reconsider his strategies and directions to his team.
During the break, Self instructed his players to make adjustments:
-He told his players to dig in harder on their defensive assignments
-He implored them to push the ball in transition rather than walking it up the court
-He told his big men to bait UNC big man Armando Bacot to chase Kansas’s center David McCormack rather than allow Bacot to park in the paint as he’d done throughout the first half
-He substituted more frequently to make sure his players did not tire out
-He told his players to play much more physically and not use their hands unnecessarily to commit fouls
-He told them to feed the ball much more frequently inside to their best player Ochai Agbaji
For the second half of the championship game, the Kansas basketball leader made adjustments. Those adjustments led to the University‘s fourth national basketball title.
How well do you adjust your strategy when things are not going as you would like them to?
Do you sulk and blame others?
Do you bury your head in the sand and hope results will improve?
Do you double down and stay with the same strategy because you are sure it will eventually succeed?
I encourage you to do what Coach Bill Self did last Monday night. Look in the mirror, try to determine why your strategy is not succeeding, and then make adjustments!
Like Bill Self, make sure your teammates know that you believe in them and their capabilities!