Being involved in youth, high school, or college sports you are confronted with, or pulled into, many frustrated player and parent conversations.
One overarching finding of these conversations is how few of the frustrated have been intentional in defining success for themselves before the season.
It seems most people default to the measurement of wins and losses, playing time and the opinion of those around them for determining if the season is successful for them. Defaulting to these as your gauges for success and satisfaction will most often lead to frustration.
Additionally, these measurements don’t provide any insight into your personal growth journey. One’s personal growth and satisfaction is not dependent on circumstances and external outcomes; it is dependent on defining your why and what you are trying to accomplish, and then finding ways to achieve it within the circumstances.
Failing to be intentional is not just a problem for athletes and parents. I see it in all types of businesses and organizations. Lack of definition and clarity of success at the start of an endeavor can negatively affect both individuals and teams.
If you have not already defined these things for you and the role you are playing on your team in work or athletics take time to answer the following questions.
What is your purpose for being on this team?
What does the team expect of you? Are you willing to meet this expectation?
What will bring you joy from being a part of the team?
What improvement or growth do you desire to see in yourself from being on this team?
What can you control in pursuing personal joy and growth? What can’t you control?
What will you measure to indicate if you are making progress or successful?
If you lead a team your first responsibility is to be super clear about what success looks like and how it is measured. Effective leaders define success for the team and understand how each team member defines success for themselves. Effective team members define success for themselves and understand how success is defined for the team.
Both team leader and member are responsible to develop a plan together for how both the team and personal success can be achieved.. While it is true that sometimes this isn’t possible, and you must have a conversation about this not being the right fit for each other, however, most often that isn’t the case if success is defined and communicated for both the team and individual at the start.