In Football and Business Transformation, Fast Starts Mean Nothing Without Strong Finishes

When I checked my phone at halftime, it was 31-10 Texas. “We’re in great shape,” I thought.

When I looked again in the third quarter, it was 31-17. “Hm. Hope it’s not happening again,” I told myself.

A few minutes later, it was 31-24.?Meltdown mode activated.

In the end, a few critical defensive stops by my beloved Longhorns saved the day, and they escaped Manhattan, Kansas, with a 34-27 win. But for many of the burnt orange faithful – myself included – the near-disaster of another blown lead is all we can think about.

You see, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has a mantra: “all gas, no brakes.” And while that has certainly been the case at some points in his two-year tenure at Texas (see: first quarter of the 2021 Red River Rivalry), his overall record – a pedestrian 11-10 – is the result of some inexplicable “slamming on the brakes” in the second half of ballgames. Whether it’s conservative play-calling, defensive breakdowns, or just a change in mental intensity, the Horns have repeatedly blown leads in the second half. In fact, Sarkisian’s Horns have led at halftime in 17 of 21 games, but only finished the job in 11 of them. If not for the second half woes, my Horns would be 17-4 through 21 games under Sark. Wouldn’t that be nice!

At this point, you’re probably wondering: why is Michael writing this blog post about the Texas Football team? I’m glad you asked!?

Interestingly, the second-half struggles of the Texas Longhorns are eerily similar to the struggles many organizations encounter in the “second half” of their business transformation journeys.?

Whether it’s a large technology modernization project like an ERP implementation, an organizational transformation like major operating model changes, or a strategic pivot, most “big T” Transformation projects get off to a fast start. Like Coach Sark and the Longhorns, these projects typically start with a robust game plan, lots of energy and excitement, a dose of creativity, and a willingness to take some risks. And yet, despite these strong starts, 3 out of 4 major change initiatives still end in failure. Sound familiar?

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are my five tips for maintaining momentum in the second half, whether you’re leading a major business transformation initiative or coaching a college football team (this is for you, Sark!):

1.?????Your “opponent” is adapting – you must adapt, too

Coach Sark is undoubtedly one of the best game-planners in the business. He crafts a 20-play “script” to start the game that almost always leads to a touchdown (or three). Similarly, most large business transformation programs kick off with a thoughtful, well-defined plan: clear objectives, crisp timelines, detailed resourcing and cost models, etc. But the Day 1 plan is not the forever plan. What about when market conditions change, when technologies evolve, or when team members leave unexpectedly? What if there’s a merger or acquisition mid-project? What if your system integrator isn’t getting the job done? In short, things change on these big projects, in the same way that opposing defensive coordinators “figure things out” and adjust their schemes against the Horns.?In both cases, the team leader needs to embrace the opportunity to adapt the plan and make adjustments based on the reality on the ground.?At FlexPoint Consulting, we call this “iterative planning” and strongly encourage our clients to constantly evaluate and adjust their transformation plans to maximize the chances of “winning.”

2.?????Fatigue is real – be prepared to insert fresh players into the mix

In football, you can literally see players getting fatigued during a game. After two or three quarters, players may run a little slower and tackle a little less aggressively because of their physical fatigue. This has no doubt been a challenge for the Longhorns at times in the last two years. In business transformation, change fatigue is just as real and just as detrimental to the success of the initiative as physical fatigue is in football. At the start of the journey, most folks are excited about the changes and ready to roll up their sleeves and make it happen. But over time – as the project requires more time and energy from folks on top of their day jobs and the pressure picks up – it is common (and understandable) for folks to lose some steam.?My recommendation is simple: intentionally insert some fresh players into the mix throughout the project.?All too often, organizations think you have to choose a core project team and stick with them for the duration. While continuity is good, there’s often far more value in adding fresh energy, ideas, and passion into the mix. Plus, in both football and transformation, inserting more of your “back-ups” contributes to bench strength and overall talent development.

3.?????“Playing with a lead” is a dangerous – don’t get complacent

When you watch the Longhorns play offense in the first and second quarter, the play-calling is incredibly creative and bold. Once they go up by a few touchdowns, however, everything seems to change. Body language tightens up, the play calls get very conservative, and a team that was easily getting first downs earlier in the game seems unable to gain a few yards. While the physical fatigue may play a role, the bigger factor seems to be between the ears. Something about playing with a lead results in the team’s mindset shifting from “win!” to “protect the lead and don’t lose.” The same thing happens in business transformation programs. At a certain point in the project, all the courageous risk-taking from Day 1 disappears. The confidence in the team’s ability to execute goes missing. Risk tolerance goes to zero. And decisions are made based on self-preservation and a fear of screwing up. This overly risk averse approach in the latter phases of a transformation is why so many of them fall short of expectations.?Whether you’re coaching the Horns or leading a major change initiative, you’ve got to stay aggressive and bold in your decision-making.?Otherwise, you’ll end up with only incremental change (or yardage), and your vision and value prop will fall short.

4.?????Sloppy execution is deadly – mental focus matters for all four quarters

In Saturday’s game against Kansas State, the Texas offensive line had zero false start penalties in the first half. In the second half, they had four. In the first 23 minutes of the game, Texas had zero fumbles. In the remaining 37 minutes, they had two fumbles. Needless to say, the Horns got sloppy as the game wore on. In short, the team seemed to lose focus as the game went on. The same phenomenon happens every day in Corporate America. At the start of a major change initiative, teams are usually locked in, paying attention to the little things, and executing at a high-level. Project managers track and address issues and risks effectively. Developers unit test their code rigorously. System integrators and consulting partners go out of their way to make clients successful. But as time goes on, people start to lose focus, and the quality of project delivery suffers. It is in these latter phases of the transformation journey – when folks are mentally fatigued and starting to do their work with less discipline – that these projects typically go off the rails. So what can we do to prevent this (and what should Texas Football do)??First, it’s important to define key quality measures and expectations at the outset of the project (or game) and measure the team’s performance against them regularly; if and when you start to see slippage from those standards, “call a timeout” and reset with the team.?If that doesn’t work, as referenced above, it’s probably time to insert some fresh “players” into the mix to bring some mental freshness to the action. Even if they’re less experienced or lacking some institutional knowledge, in my experience new players often bring a renewed sense of focus and a jolt of energy to the project team.

5.?????“Dance with the one who brung you” – focus on your core purpose and strengths

Legendary former Texas head coach Darrell K. Royal used to say, “Dance with the one who brung you.” In other words, figure out what your core strength is – the thing that got you where you are – and lean into it. For the 2022 Longhorns, that’s Bijan Robinson. The star running back has already eclipsed 1,100 yards for the year and seems to be a magician on the field, breaking tackles and finding gaps every time he touches the ball. But in the Longhorns’ second half meltdowns over the past year, they seem to forget about the super-power that is Bijan and try to generate offense in other ways. To be frank, it hasn’t worked. In a similar way, many business transformation programs go off the rails when the team gets distracted by shiny objects – new technologies, new business objectives, and new leadership – and forgets about the core vision and value prop of the program.?To truly deliver transformative change, organizations must double-down on the core purpose of the transformation, rather than get distracted by other things.?And for the Horns, give the ball to Bijan!

Conclusion

In the end, my Horns survived on Saturday, but just barely. And such is the case for many business transformation projects out there. Even the ones that don’t outright fail end up falling short of expectations because of fatigue, lack of focus, and an inability to adapt in the latter phases of the project. But for Sark and the Longhorns, and for all of us involved in leading change in the corporate setting, there is hope: taking a few simple actions to clean up these costly mistakes and maintain forward momentum can lead to amazing results…and maybe even a Big 12 Championship.

If you want to learn more about how FlexPoint Consulting helps our clients navigate major transformation initiatives – or if you want to chat more about the Longhorns – please reach out. I would love to talk to you!