The Power Of A “Goal Check”

Both of my sons started soccer at the age of three. If you’ve ever watched three-year-olds play soccer, it is a sight to behold. The players usually kick each other more than the ball. There’s no goalie, but still very little scoring. And almost always there’s one kid who doesn’t want to play and stands around watching even when he’s in the game.

But I learned a valuable leadership lesson the first year our oldest son played. Like every other soccer game, the teams always switched goals during the second half. And since the coach knew this was confusing to three-year-olds, he used a simple but powerful ritual. Before the start of each half, during warm-ups, he would ask the entire team to point to their goal. And sometimes during the game he would call out, “Everyone point to our goal”. This was a quick way to find out who understood what was happening and who needed some help. And when one kid got it wrong, it was usually a teammate that corrected them.

There is a compelling principle here for those of us who help lead teams at work. Morale and teamwork quickly disappear when any team is confused about their goal. And sometimes it can return through a simple but powerful request. If your organization has done the hard work of clearly defining your goal (you likely call it your “mission”), doesn’t it make sense to regularly make sure no one has forgotten or is confused about it?

So what would happen if you asked your team to point to the goal? Could they do it? Hs it been clearly defined for them? If it has changed, are they aware? Do they need to be reminded? I’ve often thought about that coach’s wisdom, and how much chaos was avoided or minimized by this simple request.

Can your team point to your goal? Can you?