Adjusting Your Second Half Game Plan

"Your game plan is only good for the first six minutes of the game... the rest is about adjustments."

– Roy Williams, Basketball Coach, North Carolina Tar Heels

Roy Williams was coach of University of North Carolina (UNC) men’s basketball team since 2003, and has won three National Championships, with the latest in 2017.  Coach Williams understood and thrived on the ability to adapt in a game. In the 2017 championship finals, the opponent gained an early 13-point lead, but with some changes in the second half, the UNC Tar Heels held their opponents scoreless to proceed and win the championships.

Adjustments are faster to happen in sports than in business because there is urgency for everyone involved. The game clock ticks down in everyone's view, and the scoreboard constantly displays the results.  The consequences are instant.  Knowing this propels motivation and determination to adjust efficiently and swiftly.  However, in business, there is no game clock, and the scoreboard may not be in full view to everyone. Often, a false sense of security exists because the product or result is not always immediately obvious. The inclination is to think, "We still have time to fix it", “We can wait”.

Successful business leaders know that very small adjustments can have a huge impact – if you make them early enough in the game.   However, the struggle that leaders face is knowing when an adjustment is necessary.

I believe adjustments are needed when:

·       Competition is improving faster than you.

·       You are not in the lead.

·       Drive and motivation have shifted away from you.

Therefore, I recommend the following 3 steps to make the change effectively:

1.     Decide Your One Thing.  People attempt to implement too much change at one time. People get flat out and cannot make focused change on more than one thing at a time. To determine your "One Thing", determine what two or three things you or your team are already doing well. Next, ask yourself, "What is one thing I need to improve?".

2.     Go!  Whatever the adjustment, approach it with the "Go" mentality. Move on this action, and don't second-guess yourself. I recall Nike’s tagline “Just do it!”.  

3.     Evaluate. In business and in sports, the bottom-line comes down to results. To measure change, the simpler the better. This is yet another reason for only adjusting one thing at a time – it becomes much more difficult to measure impact when more than one variable is being deployed at a time.

Highly successful leaders know the need of establishing a path, but they are ready to make needed adjustments.  Never underestimate the impact what one small adjustment can make.  And don't wait until the fourth quarter to make the changes to your game plan because it will be too late. Make changes early.