Leaders are concerned with deciding the effectiveness of their team’s performance and the performance of each member of the team. Since we have language to do that we might want to stop and think about the things we say and the effect they have on our evaluations and just our thinking, in general.

I like to refer to them as superstitions. A superstition is something we believe to be true that has no basis in fact. To be more accurate, a “superstition is only a superstition when it isn’t”.

Let me give you an example. “Walking under a ladder is bad luck” is an old superstition. Since we have identified it as a superstition we would probably walk under a ladder if we needed to. It is those we haven’t identified that limit our view of things.

Here are some examples that you may have that apply here:

-110% This is the coach’s favorite. We are always talking about giving 110% .
Not possible. There is only 100% of anything. How can I deliver 110%?
Maybe we don’t deliver 100% consistently so that 100% LOOKS LIKE
110%?

-Over-achiever Tell me how someone can deliver something they are not capable of delivering? Oh,, I forgot! In YOUR judgment they aren’t capable.
Did you tell them that? They don’t fit your picture (too small, too
Short, too slow, too young, too old, etc., etc.) I could go on and on.
Your thinking there is actually an over-achiever is a limitation for
you and them.

-Role Player Every player is a role player. From :Star” to “I rarely play”. Isn’t that a
a big part of what you do with them is to help them design their role?
But not as a limitation but as a place to grow from as they mature. If
you have decided that they are only capable of X haven’t you taken
away much of their growth opportunity? You define, the player
complies. How nice for you. Has you “infinite wisdom ever failed you
here?

These are just a few examples. It might be useful to identify others that you have.

What do you imagine it took “Mugsy ” Bogues to go from a non-starter in high school to the NBA at 5’3″ tall? How about David Eckstein in baseball who all the scouts said didn’t have the tools and not only made the Major Leagues but achieved All-Star status?

Each of you knows someone who is an example of want I am addressing here. Where have you limited someone with a superstition? Where have you limited yourself? What is it you have believed about yourself your whole life that you have never really challenged? Or, maybe you have made a couple of half-assed attempts that merely served to confirm your superstition.

As the person in charge your viewpoint hs a powerful impact on the people around youi. The think, for the most part, you know what you are talking about.

Just take the time to identify anyone you may be limiting. Expose that superstition. Truly give that person a chance to be “all that they could be”.