Time Out – what we can learn from Sports

All this evening I took a personal Time-Out and engrossed myself with the Superbowl Final. Now, I am certainly not a fan of “football” and I do not claim to know any of the rules of play very well. But I decided to watch as a personal Time-Out, since I enjoy any sport/entertainment at this level and I like to see breaking news in the making!

I was so excited to watch the youngest Coach ever in NFL, the longest intercept ever in NFL history (100 yards end to end), the 71 year old Offensive Specialist (forgive me if I am incorrect with the titles) still very active and effective on the sideline, the nail-biting seconds running out on the clock.

And then I took note of the official Time-Outs that each team has. This is when the teams re-group to focus on strategy (usually when they are down, but it can be whenever the Coach thinks it is necessary)….they simply stop play officially to review amongst themselves what is working and what is not and to decide in minutes what next to do, with seconds on the clock. The various initiatives have been worked out beforehand – the specialists have them on charts and even the captain (I guess – I confess I am a soccer fan) has them on his arm-band. These Time-Outs are essential to the outcome of the game – to whether they win or lose.

The whole process brought new meaning for me to our strategy meetings, which I sometimes take for granted and feel get in the way of my daily agenda of “Things To Do”. If we do not simply STOP and review, we may continue to do the activities that we are accustomed to doing with the same results. The strategy meeting/planning ensures that we stop and assess where we are, where we want to go and how we are going to get there. We MAY be doing the right things, but then, perhaps ??? we are not! We must look at the score (measures/metrics) in the immediate moment and decide what will be effective to get what we want. And so we may need to do somethings differently.

So Time-Outs are ESSENTIAL – personally, professionally and organizationally. We individually need to appreciate the value of this assessment. Simple – maybe….effective – definitely.