Practicing Leadership: People are allowed to get better

People are allowed to get better. 

My workout instructor didn’t hide her nervousness the week before the Seahawks NFC Championship game. She was cheering for the Seahawks but had doubts about Sam Darnold’s ability to come through in the big game. “I remember what he was like with the Jets. I was living in New York and that’s the image I have of him.”

As a sports fan myself I understand the sentiment. Sports fandom is personal. Losses can be crushing. A bad game (or a bad team) leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But her memory of Sam Darnold didn’t account for his accomplishments after leaving New York. He wasn’t the same person. He wasn’t the same quarterback. He learned, grew and evolved. Past history can be one data point, but people are allowed to get better.

The coaches weren’t coaching who Sam had been in the past. They were coaching his current skillset. They designed a playbook around what he could execute right now. When he made plays, they believed the evidence that he could make plays. His teammates believed the evidence and supported him as a team leader. They didn’t look at highlights or stats from his rookie year and hold that against him.

People are allowed to get better. It sounds so simple, but it’s worth a reminder.

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If you’ve worked with the same team or the same colleagues for a long time, it’s likely their talents, abilities and skillsets have changed because they’re more experienced and they’ve learned from their mistakes.

If you’re working with folks who are new to the team or new to the industry maybe it feels like the process of training and mentoring is slow going. Or maybe you’re fixing mistakes and it feels like it would be easier to just do it yourself. Those people are allowed to get better and they probably will with a little help and great coaching.

When you’re evaluating your career path, next steps or stretch goals, it’s worth remembering that you’re not the same person you were when you started because people are allowed to get better.

Don’t look at where people were. Look at where they are now and where they’re going.

Great teams, and great leaders, coach the current version of people and invest in who they’re becoming. 

Oh, and just to close out the Sam Darnold conversation, the Super Bowl win helped silence the critics, at least that was the narrative in the days following the game. With or without that win however, Sam Darnold had already etched his name in NFL record books alongside Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to win 14 or more regular-season games in back-to-back seasons. People are allowed to get better.

Two Ways to Practice This This Week

1. Do an “offseason evaluation.”
   In the NFL offseason, teams evaluate the players they have—not the version from their rookie year, but who they are now. Take five minutes to think about one person on your team. Ask yourself: What evidence do I have that they’ve improved in the past year? Acknowledge that progress the next time you talk with them.
2. Identify one improvement.
   Players spend the offseason working on one or two areas that will make them better next season. Ask someone on your team:
   “What’s one skill you’re focused on getting better at right now?”
   Then ask: “How can I support that?”