Nick Saban is one of the greatest coaches in college football history, winner of 6 National Championships.
Besides his success on the field, Nick has been known not only for his extremely demanding temperament but also for having popularized a philosophy in American football called "The Process".
What is the process?
It’s a philosophy that emphasizes preparation and hard work over consideration of outcomes or results. It’s actually, a step-by-step mechanism developed by Aaron Beck in which we are looking to develop good mental habits systematically. We can draw comparisons to the Stoic philosophy, but in other words, it’s doing small things well to achieve great results.
How it has been used by Nick Saban?
Early on, Saban worked with a psychiatrist, Lionel Rosen. Together they broke down complicated tasks like football games—and entire seasons—down into smaller, more manageable pieces.
The average play in football lasts only seven seconds; so coaches and players should concentrate only on those seconds, take a rest between plays, then do it all over again. Coaches design their drills, practices accordingly, always with a strong emphasis on the small tasks instead of motivating the players on the big-time result.
A key element to Saban's process is the clearly defined expectations for his players on the field, but also academically and personally. For example, he expects his players to follow a dress code, which is monitored year-round; it demonstrates how far the philosophy could be taken.
How can you use it in your business?
In business, the playing field is not a football field but you must demonstrate the ability to manage people in a complex environment. This is why I think "The process" is one of the most relevant philosophies for businesses, as it emphasizes on breaking down complex tasks into smaller pieces.
In Nick Saban’s words: “We need to agree that we’re not going to talk about what we’re going to accomplish. We’re going to talk about how we’re going to do it.” Emphasizing the “how” over the “what” puts the focus on execution-only. In short, what do you have to do day in and day out to be the best you can be?
Applying “The Process” to your business means that your employees focus on their activities, not the outcomes, just like Saban’s players. Each team member is responsible for executing each activity to the best of that person’s ability.
Therefore the coaches, the managers in a company should be able to hire the right person with the right ability for the job and then making sure each role in your organization has a handful of key performance indicators (KPIs). The managers need to appropriately design those indicators for that person whilst bringing a mentality of excellence and pride.
A manager should then work consistently on developing the team member’s ability to perform those activities.
For example:
When talking about sales, we usually refer to sales tunnel, which should be mastered by the salesman, but usually, the most important aspect of the system is being forgotten; we focus too much on the what, looking at generating $100,000 in new sales each month to justify compensation - The $100,000 in new revenue is the “what.”
Instead, we need to break down this sales' tunnel into small tasks that must be executed to perfection in order to generate maybe the final outcome.
The salesman's attention should be on executing very well these small tasks, and dedicating oneself to succeeding these small tasks in order to make the goal happen. The role of the manager is therefore not to check if it’s done but how he can actually help his coworker on executing these tasks to perfection. More importantly, it’s important to forget the past, you need to move on and keep on building your ability to perform the activity.
In the case of quarterbacks, the great ones have an uncanny ability to move on from a bad play or an interception and being focused on executing the next play. Next play!
As an entrepreneur will receive a dozen rejections despite the most sincere will to give great service, but the role of an entrepreneur is to provide clarity, direction, and attention to the present which will help to march down the field and bring the team to victory eventually.
Personal example:
When coaching offensive linemen, I want them to be focused on their first step, and I want them to be proud of having taken their first step to perfection, which then would help them to perform on Gameday, as they develop great confidence in their ability to perform.
In business, when a client enters your store, you want to greet the client in the most genuine and beautiful manner and provide a great service that is above and beyond normal expectations without any consideration of the outcome. It will bring pride and most definitely a joy to achieve such a great service. If that client decides to purchase a product, well it’s the cream on top!
But don’t focus on it - Embrace The Process!
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Where can you look it up?