Talent Development in Organizations: Leadership Lessons Learned from Fighting

Photo Credit:  Solicitorsonlinesuccess.com

If you are a leader or part of a team of folks who have been tasked with developing an organization, the process can be similar to the ebb and flow of battle that occurs in a championship fight. During some rounds the leader might be the coach encouraging or wiping the sweat off their fighter while giving him water and encouragement; in other rounds the leader is the one actually in the fight, bobbing and weaving as they seek to capitalize on opportunities! The process can be exhausting, but reaching desired goals might feel like winning a championship belt.

It’s been my experience that adversity is positively related to “feelings” associated with success. In other words, the more adversity one has overcome to meet a goal, the greater the feeling of achievement they will experience. I’ve had the unusual experience of being the fighter and the coach across different fields including education, mental health, mixed martial arts (MMA), and boxing. In boxing and MMA, we typically take 6-8 weeks to prepare for a fight. While preparation can be dull and grueling, during the fight the pain is immediate and acute; however, the end is always in sight and within one's grasp as it is contingent upon your (the fighter’s) performance during the fight. If the fighter prepared well and received good coaching, he or she should believe they have a solid shot at winning. Contrary to combat sports, many fields like education, mental health, and medicine experience a never-ending battle as the end is nebulous and preparation is less predictive of success given the

meta-contingencies (multiple if-thens) beyond one’s control. In addition, the actual rounds feel endless (they intermittently need water and a cut man too!), and the impact of success or lack thereof in some fields (e.g. education) is beyond measurement as it can reverberate for generations. In these fields, it’s not “a” fight…it’s “the” fight as it is a continuous battle to support and help people grow. In this and my next article, I’d like to share with you a couple of “lessons learned” from the fight game regarding selection, talent development, and the strengthening of “will and skill" that can benefit any organization in any field.

Lesson #1: Motivation (Will)

My motivation to fight likely came from a combination of factors like participating in competitive sport, being bullied, spending part of my youth in a “rough” area, and just being in the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective of boxing and MMA) place at the right time. The first day I stepped foot in the gym, I found myself in the ring with a professional fighter. I can remember having thoughts of the latest Mad Max movie as the chant “Two men enter, one man leaves” reverberated through my head.

What really happened was that two men entered, one man left ….with a broken nose. Yup, the professional fighter, who actually later turned out to be a sort of mentor to me, broke my nose after I landed a “lucky” punch. I must have been driven as I was back the next day taking another beating, broken nose and all. I had an unusual desire…most folks who are “right” in the head wouldn’t have come back. Actually, I’m fine in the head (I think), quitting just wasn’t an option for me given my circumstances at that time. You see, back in those days, “natural selection” was the “hiring process” at many of the local boxing gyms. Typically the trainer was making little to no money and did not have the time or desire to work with somebody who wasn’t hungry or "gritty." So the novice was thrown into the ring to see if they would sink or swim. You were going to take a beating. The unwritten rule, like natural selection, was that only the strongest survived. In my case, it may have been the dumbest as what person with any common sense would be back to gym the very next day, broken nose and all!?

Who knows how many potential world champions never came back to gyms using this approach as the result of a similar experience.

Thankfully the selection process for organizations, while challenging, is not physically brutal. Leaders are best served by embedding evidenced based selection processes, unlike the one I was exposed to, to reduce the likelihood of an “error” in selection through strategies like “gut hiring." I’ve seen folks hired for the craziest reasons like “We went to school together,” “I knew his Dad,” and “She loves cats.” Without a good strategy, organizations are rolling the dice and might wind up with the “wrong” person on the bus. In smaller organizations, the “wrong” person can quickly crash the bus. Sometimes leaders are tempted to hire just because they are short staffed and need to “fill” the position. I’ve seen this happen in the school system. In fact, I’ve fallen victim to this very thought process when I wanted a school to hire a staff member who had recently come up as a “free agent” within the district. The problem was that this staff had a history of shenanigans. Ever the optimist, I believed that we could effectively shape this staff’s performance. Thankfully the wise leader recommended we wait, stating “we are better off with nobody in the position until we get the right person.” Later that year, this same staff member  ended up being involved in another mishap that caused the school's leadership a tremendous amount of trouble. The point here is that leaders should do their best to get the “right” people in their fight through an effective hiring process.

Former CEO of Porsche, Peter Shutz, advocated for organizations to “Hire character. Train skill.” I agree. As a boxing and MMA coach, I have found that skill will create contenders, but becoming a reigning champion requires character.

Hiring based on a skills focus can help fighters and gyms reach short term goals, but only in rare conditions obtain a title. If organizations want the sustainability needed to reach long term goals, absence of character will get the leader TKO’d after the first couple of rounds. There are many evidenced-based process like behavior-based interviewing where scenarios are presented that prompt the interviewee to talk about their past behavior when handling situations. The interviewers then use this information as a predictor of future performance. This type of selection strategy can also be a good way to gain insight into a candidate’s decision making processes and character traits.

When leaders hire somebody who is not as skilled but has character, their job-related self-efficacy or “grit” can be rapidly improved through effective talent development processes that I’ll discuss later. The “grittiest” fighters I’ve known were models of resilience. If they took a beating in a sparring match or a fight, they were usually back in the gym the next day asking questions related to improving their performance and trying to train again. In fact, the “hungriest” fighters I’ve actually had to send home when they showed up the next day to train because recovery is as important as training. These guys were driven…they wanted to be better. They craved winning. Now you might be thinking “well, that would be great if leaders could find that kind of ‘driven’ employee…they just aren’t out there.” Well, they might be.  Sometimes it just takes patience.  But even when this type of drive can't be found, if organizations put effort into hiring people with character, their skill and will can be improved. Acquiring people with character who are at least reasonably motivated is half the battle for developing a driven employee.

Famed coach Bobby Knight once said “The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.”  Stay tuned for my next article where I'll discuss lesson #2, strategies learned from the fight game regarding building skill and growing will to prepare employees for the "fight."

Dr. Paul Gavoni has successfully supported multiple struggling schools in the turnaround process. An expert in human performance and organizational leadership, Paul provides administrative teams, teachers, and staff with coaching and consultation in analyzing and developing behavior and performance management systems directly aligned with student achievement.  

 A boxer since 1992 and a trainer in MMA since 2002, Paul is sought out by both up-and-coming and elite MMA fighters seeking top-level instruction in striking and mental preparation.  Contact Paul at [email protected]