Real Leaders Understand Team Momentum

I’ve been thinking a lot about momentum. I posted about business momentum here just a few days ago. I said:

Momentum: you see it in team sports often, as one team executes a great play or there is a stroke of sudden luck, and the momentum changes. You see it in life too, like when getting more exercise helps you to eat better, which helps you to sleep better. What about business?

Business momentum is one element of business that relates to leadership.

It’s about teams. Teams sense a change in momentum. The unexpected happens. Bad luck or good luck. A favorable mention in major media, a system goes down at a critical time, somebody leaves. Leadership takes …

  1. Seeing and understanding the momentum shifts. I think that’s often very hard, because you need vision from above and afar, stepping back. When you’re right in the middle of it, it’s hard to see; and
  2. seizing the moment to move the momentum in the right direction. Bad news might take something dramatic to get the team refocused. Stop, refresh your vision, review your plans, put some drama into it.

Think of the coach who calls time out to gather the team and affect the momentum. A lot of business is about teams, so is momentum, and that means leadership at its best (or lack of leadership at its worst.)

(Image: bigstockphoto)

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