“Coach, I need to quit the team.”, Murray sadly confessed.

“What?  Why do you want to quit now?  We only have one tournament left?!”, I replied quite taken aback.

“My self-image can’t handle losing anymore.”, he reluctantly expressed.

Ok, how do I handle this?

I had been coaching a high school wrestling team for 2 years and Murray was one of my wrestlers.  He had faithfully come to every practice and tournament.  Sadly though, he had not experienced much success.  Murray had not won a match.  In fact, he had not scored a point in any of his matches.

I listened to Murray explain how he had come up with his decision.  He was simply tired of feeling bad after losing again and again.  He really enjoyed working out with the team and the relationships he had developed with the other team members, but he couldn’t handle losing anymore.

So even though we only had one more tournament left in the season, he felt it was best he quit the team.  I disagreed.  We talked about how simply persevering is winning.  We talked about how committing to work hard until the end is winning.  We talked about how daring to do a ‘mighty thing’ like wrestling, as opposed to doing nothing, is winning.

I encouraged him to see this through to the end, and suggested that we set a realistic goal for him.  The goal we agreed on was for him to score a point.  That was how we were going to measure success for him at the tournament.

After further contemplation Murray agreed to stay on the team and wrestle in one last tournament.  So, in the time between his decision and the upcoming tournament we worked on ensuring he knew how to score points.  We practiced and practiced so he understood how to score points and could execute the moves necessary to score them.

To cut a long story short, Murray accomplished his goal in his last tournament – he scored a point.  Not only that, he had scored 9 points in his first match before he pinned his opponent for the win.  And to top that, he went on to win numerous matches to capture the silver medal.

Murray was transformed by his success.  I watched his confidence grow and his self-image blossom.

My question to you is this:  Do your people know how to ‘score points’ for your organization?  Do your people know what ‘winning’ looks like for them and for your team?  Have your people been trained in the skills necessary to regularly ‘score points’ for your organization so you are ‘winning’?

Good leaders don’t just insist on winning, they equip their people with the skills necessary to contribute to that win.

Leaders need not only endeavor to envision their people in regard to accomplishing organizational objectives, but must also equip their people with the understanding and ability to score the points necessary to contribute to the success of the organization.  Oftentimes organizational team members are not aware of what winning looks like for them and the company.  And, they do not know how they can contribute to the growth of the company through their day to day activities.

Leaders need to ensure their people understand what winning looks like for the company, and are also aware of what winning looks like for their individual team members.  And, a good leader also diligently outlines for their people how they can score points in their specific job to contribute to the success of the team and their own personal success.

Just like Murray needed to have what he deemed to be an accomplishable goal, and needed to be trained in the behaviors necessary to accomplish that goal, so do your people.  Your people need a worthy accomplishable goal, and to be equipped to do what is necessary on a day to day basis to reach the goal.

A goal is futile without firstly, the knowledge of how to accomplish it, and secondly the ability to do just that.

Equip your people to contribute to the success of the team and their own success as well.  Show them how to score points every day in and through what they do.