Toolbox! Get your toolbox! Popcorn, peanuts, Leadership Toolbox! Welcome, everyone. We’ve got blue skies, warm weather and a great day for another edition of the Leadership Toolbox (with a side of baseball chatter!). I am Capt. Fletch, your commentator, as we settle in for a leadership lesson in real time. Last month, we looked at the value of a strong mentorship culture in your organization and the dividends it can pay for years beyond what we see or imagine. This month, I pick up with the team I wrote about last month, as there are new developments.
As I reflect on teams I served on over the years, both professionally and athletically, I noticed a common trend. I always seem to find my way to teams dealing with chaos or that have lost their way somehow. As an officer in the military, I developed a reputation for taking a faltering team or a project, and turning it around to at least get it heading in the right direction. Often, but not always, these teams or projects suffered from leadership failure — abandoned with no sense of identity, purpose or motivation. When I showed up to RED HORSE and took over the well drilling team, this is exactly where the team was. They had lost their identity and the value of their purpose, and there was really no motivation to train or execute drilling concepts and projects. So goes the case now. A month ago, I served as assistant head coach. Today, I can call myself head coach, but the team really only has me. No need to discuss the how or why, but I took over amid chaos.