Lead-Up Principle #8
BECOME A GO-TO PLAYER
If you found yourself in a situation at work where you were on a deadline and trying to finish a project that was critical for the success of the organization, and then suddenly, with almost no time left, you were handed another critical task that had to be completed at the same time, what would you do? In this case, let’s assume that delaying the deadline beyond today was not a possibility. It’s do or die. How do you respond? If you’re like most good leaders, you hand one of the tasks to a go-to player.
The Law of the Catalyst in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork states that winning teams have players who make things happen. That’s always true—whether in sports, business, government, or some other arena. Those team members who can make things happen are their go-to players. They demonstrate consistent competence, responsibility, and dependability.
If that is what you do in a crunch—or would do if you trusted one of your players to consistently deliver—then why would your leaders do any differently? They wouldn’t. All leaders are looking for people who can step up and make a difference when it matters. When they find such people, they come to rely on them and are inevitably influenced by them.
GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN . . .
Few things elevate a person above his peers the way becoming a go-to player does. Everyone admires go-to players and looks to them when the heat is on—not only their leaders, but also their followers and peers. When I think of go-to players, I mean people who always produce.
1. GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN THE PRESSURE’S ON
There are many different kinds of people in the workplace, and you can measure them according to what they do for the organization:
WHAT THEY DO KIND OF PLAYER
Never deliver Detrimental
Sometimes deliver Average
Always deliver when in their comfort zone Valuable
Always deliver regardless of the situation Invaluable
Go-to players are the people who find a way to make things happen no matter what. They don’t have to be in familiar surroundings. They don’t have to be in their comfort zones. The circumstances don’t have to be fair or favorable. The pressure doesn’t hinder them either. In fact, if anything, the more pressure there is, the better they like it. They always produce when the heat is on.
Go-to players are the people who find a way to make things happen no matter what. They don’t have to be in familiar surroundings. They don’t have to be in their comfort zones.
2. GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN THE RESOURCES ARE FEW
In 2004 when Today Matters came out and I was frequently being asked to speak on the subject, I was once booked to do back-to-back sessions in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the first session, the site ran out of books. When the leader of the organization I was speaking for found out, he mobilized some of his people and sent them out to all the bookstores in town to buy more copies of the book so that his people could have access to them right after my second speaking session. I think he ended up buying every copy in town.
The thing I loved about it was that he wanted his people to benefit from the book, and he knew that if he didn’t have it there after I spoke, they probably wouldn’t get a copy. So he made it happen—even though he had to buy the books at full retail and resell them for that same amount. It took a lot of effort and provided no financial return. What a leader!
3. GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN THE MOMENTUM IS LOW
Organizations have only three kinds of people when it comes to momentum. There are momentum breakers—people who sabotage the leader or organization and actually sap momentum as a result. These people have terrible attitudes and represent the bottom 10 percent of the organization. (At General Electric, Jack Welch made it his goal every year to identify and fire these people.) The second group is comprised of the momentum takers—people who merely take things as they come. They neither create nor diminish momentum; they simply flow with it. These people represent the middle 80 percent.
The final group is the momentum makers—the people who move things forward and create momentum. These are the leaders in the organization and comprise the top 10 percent. These momentum makers make progress. They overcome obstacles. They help move others along. They actually create energy in the organization when the rest of the team is feeling tired or discouraged.
4. GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN THE LOAD IS HEAVY
Good employees always have the desire to be helpful to their leaders. I’ve worked with many of them over the years. I always appreciate it when someone who works with me says, “I’ve finished my work. Can I do something for you?” But there is another level of play that some go-to players reach, and you can see it in their ability to carry a heavy load anytime their leader needs it. They don’t help the leader with a heavy load only when theirs is light. They do it anytime their leader’s load is heavy.
Linda Eggers, Tim Elmore, and Dan Reiland are examples of heavy load lifters for me. For years, when I’ve been pressed, they’ve taken tasks from me and completed them with excellence. Dan Reiland is so incredible at this that he continues to do it even now—and he doesn’t even work for me anymore. He does it as a friend.
If you have the willingness and capacity to lift the load of your leaders when they need it, you will have influence with them.
The keys to becoming this kind of player are availability and responsibility. Being a heavy load lifter is really an attitude issue, not a position issue. If you have the willingness and capacity to lift the load of your leaders when they need it, you will have influence with them.
5. GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN THE LEADER IS ABSENT
The greatest opportunity for a leader in the middle of an organization to distinguish himself is when the leader is absent. It is at those times that a leadership vacuum exists, and leaders can rise up to fill it. True, when leaders know they will be absent, they usually designate a leader to stand in for them. But even then, there are still opportunities for people to step up, take responsibility, and shine.
If you step forward to lead when there is a leadership vacuum, you may have a very good chance of distinguishing yourself. You should also know, however, that when people step up to fill that vacuum, it almost always exposes their true colors. If their motives are good, and they desire to lead for the good of the organization, it will show through. If they are attempting a power grab for personal gain and their own advancement, that will show through too.
6. GO-TO PLAYERS PRODUCE WHEN THE TIME IS LIMITED
I love a sign I saw at a small business called “The 57 Rules to Deliver the Goods.” Beneath the title it read:
Rule 1: Deliver the Goods
Rule 2: The Other 56 Don’t Matter
That’s the philosophy of go-to players. They deliver no matter how tough the situation is.
As I was working on this chapter, Rod Loy told me a story about when he was a leader in the middle of an organization. At a large meeting, his leader announced a new program that he said was in place. Roy listened with interest, because he had not been aware of it. It sounded great, but then his leader announced that Rod would be leading the program, and anyone who was interested in it could talk to him about it after the meeting.
Rod had not been informed of his role in this program, but that didn’t matter. During the rest of the meeting while his leader spoke, Rod quickly sketched out the design and action plan for the program. When the meeting was over and people approached him, he communicated his plan and launched it. Rod said it may not have been his best work, but it was good work under the circumstances. It created a win for the organization, preserved his leader’s credibility, and served the people well.
You may never find yourself in the kind of situation Rod did. But if you adopt the positive attitude and tenacity of a go-to player, and take every opportunity to make things happen, you will probably perform as he did under similar circumstances. If you do, your leader will come to rely on you, and the people we rely on increase their influence and credibility every day we work with them.
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