Let′s recover that fumble!

Early in my career as an engineer, I learned that you shouldn't "drop the ball," no matter how many of them you have in balance. But sometimes, the ball does drop, or you fumble, depending on the nature of the game... and that's when everyone goes for the ball!

Well, at least that's the direction in American football... And it should be in business too!

A loose ball, or a fumble, is caused by a player's mistake carrying the ball or is caused by the opposing team, the competition. And, of course, once it is dropped, the priority becomes to recover it to avoid giving up possession and position to the opposing team. By the very nature of the game, the player who fumbles the most balls per season is typically the quarterback (as they touch the ball in every offensive play of the team).

The quarterback is the leader of the offense and the team. And it's generally a quarterback or some kind of quarterback who is the MVP or most valuable player in the league (for reference, in the last 20 years, a quarterback has received this honor in 13 of them). So, it's the ultimate leader on the field who often gets hit and forced to lose the ball (studies show that approximately 1 out of every 7 sacks results in a fumble).

In our organizations, when someone drops the ball (whether it's the quarterback or another player):

• Does everybody rush to recover the ball?
• Or do they use time and resources to point out whose fault it was?

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent you respond to it - Lou Holtz

Ken Perlman wrote a great article in Forbes magazine about the responsible position for recovering the ball. You can read it here. In his reflection, he comments on how there is no RACI matrix to define who should perform this task, as it is evident to the team that EVERYONE is responsible for it, regardless of who dropped the ball.

A team with high collaboration and cohesion first protects the customer and then investigates the root cause to prevent it from happening again. A high-performance team has a unity of purpose and supports all members and functions when problems or errors occur. In a united team, when there is a fumble: Everyone recovers the fumble!

Fun facts

• The team with the fewest fumbles lost in a season: the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002 with 2 fumbles.
• The team with the most fumbles in a season: the Chicago Cardinals with 36 in 1959.
• And the interesting part: Both ended up in last place in their division...

And for additional fun, here's the link to the famous Butt Fumble by Mark Sánchez on Thanksgiving Day 2012... Creo que alguien diría: ¨No pierdas el balón por unas… un trasero!¨.