Do Your Job: Patriots, Priorities and Surviving the Fourth Quarter

Anyone who works in sales knows that Q4 is a hectic time. The ambitious targets you set in Q1 are looming, and you need everybody on your team performing their best. It’s part of what I love about working with the FlexPod team at NetApp. But thriving in this environment takes some perspective, and in the afterglow of this year’s Super Bowl, it reminds me of the New England Patriots and their famous motto: Do Your Job.

As a Bostonian, I was already a fan of the Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick, but notwithstanding their Super Bowl record, there’s power in a mantra that reminds people what it means to be part of a team that’s working towards a common goal. In fact, there are many leadership lessons to learn from Belichick’s coaching.[i]

The fact is, unless your team has an honest conversation about what each member needs to do, everyone will be focused on something slightly different. That’s not how targets get met or games get won. Our job as leaders and coaches is to foster that discussion and make sure everyone knows their role in making the team successful. In my work, that’s all about setting priorities and paving the way for people to — you guessed it — do their job.

Redefine priorities

In an earlier post, I talked about how having clear priorities sets the tone for achieving results and the role that leaders must play in communicating those priorities. Using that approach at a meeting with my sales team a few weeks ago, I asked everyone to describe what they were working on. There was nothing inherently wrong with anyone’s list. In fact, the team’s remaining tasks reflected exactly what they outlined in their business plans at the start of the year. It was clear, though, that we had more tasks than we have time, and not everyone’s list was aligned with my overarching priority — our sales target. It was time for me to help the team redefine priorities based on our current situation.

The hard truth is that just because something is on your to-do list doesn’t mean it’s the best use of your time. That’s because priorities aren’t static — they shift over time as our environment changes, just like playbooks change to face new opponents. When time is running out, we can’t do everything — we need to focus. For me and the FlexPod team, meeting our sales target is the most tangible goal there is, and it’s a rallying point that everyone can get behind.

Realign resources

Next, we discussed whether spending time on a given item would help us reach that goal. If the answer was no, it came off the list. That doesn’t mean it never should have been there — quite the opposite. I applaud my team for having a plan and working hard to execute that plan. I also know it’s my job to create space for them to deviate from the plan if it will bring us closer to where we need to be. I needed to align our available resources to our goal, making sure that each person focuses on what they do best. Like the Patriots, I need every team member to do their job.

Review the game plan

Our meeting was animated and productive. At the end, we had a solid plan that will help us address our customers’ biggest needs and generate the most momentum towards our end zone. Each person knows what they need to do (or not do) to execute our revised game plan.

The key to doing this successfully is doing it as a team. That’s the only way to make sure that everyone is on the same page. When you know how your piece fits with what others are doing, it helps keep you accountable. And it reminds everyone that we’re all in this together.

When the Patriots went into Q4 of the Super Bowl game this year, they had a plan. That plan looked different than anyone might have thought at the start of the season or even at the start of the game. But they adjusted it, and they executed it. Every player knew their job, and they did it. As a Patriot’s fan, that brings me great joy. As a sales leader, it gives me inspiration to help my team achieve a goal that we can celebrate together when the clock runs out on our Q4.

[i] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/01/5-lessons-bill-belichick-and-the-patriots-can-teach-about-leadership.html