Are you “Deep End Certified”?

Some of you are only reading this because you’re unsure of what “Deep End Certified” means. It’s a fair question. This is a term we used in the Marine Corps Water Survival School referring to where panic, problems and typically dropouts occurred. Let’s face it ~ success is a bad teacher much like the shallow end of a pool is to test your water survival skills. Success boosts egos and drives a wedge between appearance and reality. When we succeed, we believe everything went according to plan. When we’re popping champagne corks to celebrate successes, we avoid a reckoning. When we think we’re destined for greatness, we start blaming others if things don’t go as planned.?

Let’s face it, 2023 will be the "Deep End" of the Pool for Many

So now what? ??

Now we’re being drug into the deep end of the pool and we are all about to figure out who can navigate uncertainty. Who built for contingencies. Who’s looking for creative ways to leverage the capabilities of the team around them and mitigate unnecessary risks. If you’re a CEO with members of your leadership team who were not in similar positions in 2008-2010 it’s worth understanding if they’re “Deep End Certified”. In other words, are they prepared to lead through turbulent economic times? Do you understand your team’s natural buoyancy, authentic curiosity, resiliency, and approach swim to 2023? Tough economies, like water, will humble even the most well-prepared teams. Here’s a sampling of questions Executive Leadership Teams (ELT) and the CEO of a startup/scaleup might be asking themselves today:

1.??????How buoyant is my team??Ever wondered how large boats weighing hundreds of tons manage to stay afloat, while small objects like pebbles sink? That’s because of something called Buoyancy. This is the upward force that keeps the object afloat regardless of the weight of the object. Now think of that upward force as a positive mindset and that weight, our economy. When you lack buoyancy, this starts to brew negative emotions; you can’t see past the gray clouds of a bad day. Without buoyancy, people tend to carry that negative emotion with them and transfer it to others. Without buoyancy, the deep end of the pool is a poor place to be.

2.??????How authentically curious is my team? There’s a big difference between “ability” or “willingness” to learn and a passion for seeking out the lessons, or “authentic curiosity”. It’s a good time to assess the creativity, confidence, commitment, and resiliency of your leadership team as they lead their respective teams in 2023. ?It’s important to find the right balance between top-down direction and bottom-up emergence of opportunity in tough economic times. Pay attention to the water and shifting tides.

3.??????Does every member of the team have a “Swim Buddy”? Even as Marine Corps instructors placed us in positions that were extremely difficult, safety was always paramount hence the notion of a “swim buddy”. When tackling tough objectives: “2 is 1 and 1 is none”. Even your best talent will experience tough weeks/months in a tough economy. How you support them becomes paramount. It drives trust, morale, and focus.?A “Swim Buddy” might even be a small group of cross departmental leaders who obsess over morale and communication are a great way to keep a team motivated and focused.

4.??????What does their approach swim to the “Deep End” look like? How detailed is the team in their planning/measurement? What assumptions are being made? Assess your leadership team’s ability to plan their business and their time. Without planning factors such as where you are going, how you're getting there, when you're getting there, who is helping you get there, what you need to get there and why you want to get there, you will likely fall short of your goals in both good and bad markets. How is the team going to evaluate their progress? In any economy, planning & tracking progress is essential; however, in tough economies, your ability to accelerate lessons and identify what’s working/not working is a superpower.

?While becoming “Deep End Certified” might encompass other factors, this article is meant to ignite discussions amongst leadership teams at all levels of the organization. “How prepared are we for 2023?”. Being “Deep End Certified” prevents you from basking in the glory of your previous successes but rather focusing on the current situation to drive incredible outcomes. Being “Deep End Certified” comes with the bumps and bruises that recognize if we don’t ask tough questions now, we’ll pay the price later. What “Deep End Certification” is NOT? It’s not a way of weeding out who needs to be replaced. Where there are gaps, there are firms like Moneyball365 who can assist in mentorship, planning, measurement, challenging assumptions, gap measures, hiring, channels, etc. Your team’s ability to process anxiety and fear in the deep end can be greatly improved when there’s experience that will take on the challenges with them.

If you enjoyed this article:

1. Follow me
2. Click the ?? and never miss a post
3. DM me for questions/inquiries in how Moneyball365 might help your teams