By: Jason Pistillo

This is the second in a three-part series about developing one’s leadership “game.” This post, we’ll focus on practice and instinct.

Practice & Instinct

Often, it’s easy to relate practice and instinct to sports and athletics. I am a snow skier, so I’ll use that as my athletic example. I don’t know about you, but I know I can’t consciously think through all the muscle movements, the shifting of my balance and the lifting and angling of my feet while I’m skiing. I just have to do it. I get better over time through practice and actually doing the activity. I get better more rapidly, if I pre-visualize the ski run, pay attention and stay present and focused during the run, don’t overthink what I’m doing, and reflect on how it went and what to change afterwards. Rinse, repeat, improve.

This is EXACTLY how one develops their leadership game, but most ignore the pre-visualization, being present in the moment and the reflection afterwards steps. If you’ve ever read about the techniques Olympic athletes use to maximize their game, you’ll find their techniques are surprisingly similar.

Remember those tools we talked about in the last post? You need to learn how to use them. Wielding a hammer doesn’t have a big learning curve, but it does require some focus and reflection – anyone that’s smashed a thumb knows that. Again, the same is true of your leadership game.

Most people, when they pre-visualize personnel issues, especially conflict-based situations, only whip themselves up into a frenzy. That’s not pre-visualization. Thinking through a situation ahead of time, is about thinking through the ideal pathway. Mentally running through an anticipated argument is the same thing as a skier imagining what it’s going to feel like when they crash and tumble all the way down the mountain. If a skier does that, I can pretty much guarantee they will crash. At the very least they are certainly not going to have a good run.

Pre-visualize the desired pathway and outcome, stay attuned to what ideally would happen; don’t fixate on what you want to avoid. When you lead, do it with focus and presence (tell your brain to shut it). Reflect on how it went. Get input from others and use that feedback for the next time you face that situation.

This pattern is why I do a weekly “wins and losses” activity with my management team. Then I know at least once a week, our leadership team is reflecting on their leadership, saying it out loud and building accountability with their peers.

Jason Pistillo
President & CEO
University of Advancing Technology