Leadership Lessons of March Madness

It is the time of the year that March Madness has a way of wedging its way into offices everywhere. Brackets are distributed; old college loyalties rekindled, 12 hours or more of basketball played every day Thursday through Sunday. And while this time of year is touted as the least productive for business, I actually find some great lessons and real life applications to business as these basketball games unfold.

This year’s tournament has been nothing short of wild! Whether your bracket is already busted, you’re winning the office pool, or you could care less about the whole endeavor, here are some important lessons you can draw from March Madness.

Working together well works wonders

The net gets cut down by the team whose members work together best. The coach puts each player in a position to succeed; the team has practiced all of its plays, and run through game scenarios so they are ready if it occurs. Teammates commit to the play that is called and execute. Wins happen when everyone works together for the good of the team (or the company). Failure is the result of less than everyone on the court believing in and executing the play as called.

The time to question is in practice. Once the game is on, there needs to be commitment to execute.

New starts
There were more than a few teams that the pundits were critical of being selected for the tournament. 52 teams have been eliminated leaving just 16 to pursue the championship. Some of those 16 are the same teams others felt did not belong. They prevailed when public opionion was against them. The tournament is a chance to leave behind the season’s record and start fresh. It's a blank slate where anyone can win. The lesson for employees and companies is that they can shake off previous losses or setbacks and use every day to start again with making progress toward their goals.

Underdogs can and do win
Every year, so called “Cinderella” teams upset one or more of the giants of the sport. It is a reminder to you that when your company is up against a big competitor, encourage your employees to bring their A-game, no matter what the odds – you can win. And if you are one of the big guys, never, ever take your smaller competition for granted, that is a sure recipe for a loss.

A Little Fun Goes a Long Way

Trust employees to do the right thing and you will be rewarded. Your people work hard. They care. Sure the meeting may start a few minutes late because someone wants to brag about their alma mater’s victory. It is not a bad thing to let them get into the spirit of the event. Rather than trying to over control or clamp down on the fun, let go so your employees can enjoy the things they love. They will get the work done.

Bite Size Is the Right Size

A recent Wall Street Journal article cited several research studies in traditional classroom training. Fewer than 15% of participants successfully apply what they learn; within 30 days, 80% of content is forgotten and that figure jumps to 90% after a year! That does not mean you should not train; it means you need to support training with something else.

That brings us to the importance of micro-learning. In all of that variance there is one constant and that is bite size is the right size.

imapMyTeam is a perfect micro-learning platform. Micro-learning is generally characterized by low time commitment, small chunks, short effort and narrow topics – but, complex as a whole.

How do I best use imapMyTeam or some variation of that question is often asked of us. The answers are as different as all of the people and types of businesses that are imapMyTeam users (Thank you for being a user!).

Many imapMyTeam users, after the initial burst of logging in and looking at everything they possibly can, settle in and adopt a technique of running a single report on a topic that is important and relevant to them at the moment. It typically takes less than 5 minutes to log in, read and understand what to do next. The learning is immediately applied and learning that is immediately applied is retained. Microlearning!


How to use imapMyTeam? On most occasions it should be in, out, small chunk, short time frame on a narrow/focused topic, with immediate application of the learning.

Bite size is the right size. Make imapMyTeam your micro-learning platform about the people you work with on a day-to-day basis!

Trust Falls

Interaction Associates conducted an extensive poll across industries ranging from financial services to manufacturing. The online survey asked whether respondents see their organization as having effective leadership at the top.

The results of this survey showed that the percentage of respondents who said they see their bosses as collaborative and trustworthy is at an all-time low. Only 27% had a high level of trust in management and their organization. Numbers are down significantly over the same survey conducted three years ago.

Is that surprising to you?
Do you believe that is true in your organization?
How are you feeling about trust these days?

This is what I thought:

“El acantilado más alto puede caer de confianza.”
                                                                                    -Rodrigo De Souza

Rodrigo, for those of you who do not watch Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, is the conductor of a fictional New York Symphony whose behind the scenes antics and issues are the subject of the show. In one episode, while discussing and reflecting on his relationship with and leadership of his orchestra Rodrigo makes the above statement. Translated to English it means: 

“The highest cliff you can fall from is trust.”

When I heard this statement, I had to stop the show immediately and think about how brilliant and important it is – or should be to all of us. Especially in light of the trust survey I just shared with you.
Break the trust, lose the trust and it is a hard long fall. Indeed it will feel as if you fell from the highest cliff. It is really hard, if not impossible to climb back up that cliff to the heights you previously had. The solution:

Stay away from the edge of the cliff.


The imapMyTeam® Trust Requirements report will keep you from falling off the trust cliff with your colleagues. It will give you accurate insight into what the other person’s trust expectations are of you and tells you how to build those bonds. Think of it as a blueprint for building trust. It is preventative medicine that will show you where the edge of the cliff is. This investment in others is far easier than trying to climb back up the cliff after you fallen off.

Success Redefined

Our last three Tuesday Tips taught us the importance of:
1. Self Awareness
2. Self Management
3. Management of Relationships

The fourth and final stage of the imapMyTeam success process is the actual achievement of Success or the outcome of being successful with the first three steps.

Business success is almost always defined financially and with very tangible metrics of performance supported by core values. Simultaneously each individual reader of this Tuesday Tip may have a very different definition of success that is driven by personal goals and values, sometimes even intangible. There is no one ‘right’ definition of success.

In the teambuilding sessions we facilitate called Quick Starts for Teams, we always begin by shaping a definition of success for the team. The exercise asks people to think about what it would take for everyone in their world to be happy with the performance of the team. We get them to explore this from the perspective that would include their manager, the customers they support, their peers, themselves and then, the final twist is, their families. It is always amazing to see how the personalization of success influences the business goals and objectives.

A shared vision of success that blends what I personally want with what the business wants is the key ingredient that ensures everyone stays motivated to do the job. And, motivated people can accomplish almost anything they set their minds to.

Your role, your job is at the crossroads of these two definitions of success; your personal definition of success and your company’s definition of success can be different. In fact, there is a high probability it is different. But they can serve one another.

Everyone at every level needs to know how their work contributes to larger company strategies, so show them the big picture. Share the company’s overarching goals (business success definition) for the year and discuss how their individual efforts can help accomplish the mission.

Link those business goals and objectives to the personal goals of each individual team member. Show how reaching the company’s overall success, (achieving production numbers, cost savings, revenue generation) will at the same time help them receive the satisfaction of accomplishing what’s important to them personally (meaningful work, recognition, stability, respect.) Make sure each person knows how integral they are to the business and is motivated to contribute based on a shared vision of success.


Companies are looking for maximum contribution from every employee; every employee is looking for maximum satisfaction in their role on the job. When leadership and employees are promoting a shared vision of success, defined by personal aspirations along with business goals and objectives, you have a win-win scenario.

Redefine your vision of Success!