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“Gentlemen, this is a football.”
“First, let’s talk about how we put on our socks and lace our sneakers.”
These quotes from a couple of renowned sports coaches shocked their players. The athletes comprising the successful teams who received these messages were likely initially thinking, “We made it this far, to the pinnacle of professional and college sports, for our leader to start our first practice as if we are novices. Give me a break! Let’s learn and practice the new, cool stuff!” The reality is that these coaches understood the true importance of mastering the fundamentals of the game. Often success in life, and even in sports, revolves around the basics. Performing well on the little things leads to larger successes. No matter how knowledgeable we are about a particular subject or technique, if we do not have a firm understanding of the fundamental principles, our work will suffer.
Surprise… real winners practice and study the “old” stuff that made them successful in the first place! And they also keep first things first. Basics are just that, BASICS! And practicing the home run trot prior to learning to hit is folly. When I was a kid, I had a good friend who would spend hours practicing “spiking” a football after a touchdown. It was a bit ironic that he had an awfully challenging time catching a pass. Possibly he was practicing the wrong thing. He was definitely not putting first things first! In this blog, we’ll explore the concept of understanding the fundamentals and why winners always get the small stuff right.
Where do YOU put your effort?
Where do YOU start? What do YOU and your team practice? Being sound fundamentally and putting first things first ARE the keys to success. Full stop! In the business world, this same philosophy applies. Successful companies understand the value of fundamentals and make sure their employees have a thorough understanding of them. When launching new initiatives or projects, it is not enough to jump in and start with something cool or exciting; instead, businesses must take the time to understand the foundational principles and ensure they are correctly applied.
If your team has been trained and is successful in providing quality legal services in a pleasing way, great. But are you consistent? Practice makes perfect…. or keeps you exceptionally good if perfect is a stretch! We all need to be kept abreast of what fundamentally good really is. We do not need to relearn…just know how to deliver the basics consistently. The famous theologian, playwright, and philosopher, Samuel Johnson, was quoted as saying, “People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.” How true! Consistently good beats occasionally great a remarkably high percentage of the time. How often does your firm retrain? Remember….we forget quickly!
There are times when the Vista team is assessing or consulting with a client that a topic arises, early on, related to a nuanced protocol for an intake or case management procedure. We do our best to say something like, “Back the truck up!”, let’s work on the more routine protocols and practice those to excellence prior to moving to step 2….or 10. Fundamentals are there for a purpose and should be fully understood and implemented prior to the fancy moves.
Fundamentals before flash
It is sexy to do the cool stuff, show off, have flash, and concentrate on sales to the exclusion of high-quality operations. But without the fundamental training and skills in place to perform the basics, you will appear woefully inept and do a severe injustice to those you are attempting to serve.
Let’s go back to the analogy of an athlete. If I wanted to be a great basketball player, it might start with dribbling and shooting free throws. Once I master those fundamentals, I can move on to the crossovers and behind-the-back passes. But if I want to show off a cool move in my very first game, I will likely fail.
It is the same in our professional lives. If you have not mastered the basics of your profession, you are doomed to failure before you start. Start small and keep it basic. Have a plan and take the steps. Build up knowledge and experience with each step. Learn from mistakes – either yours or someone else’s – and keep going. Once you have the basics down, you can move on to more complex or creative projects and ideas that will help you move forward in your career. Don’t try to run before you can walk. Put in the work and the time and reap the rewards of diligence and hard work.
The mistake of running before you can walk
Some clients immediately ask us if increasing their sales spend is wise. Maybe, but, assuming the spend yields more clients, can they serve them in a “world-class” way? Suppose a new restaurant is supremely successful in marketing…but skips the practice of instilling the fundamentals with the wait team and chef? Well….lots of customers will come….one time.
This is no way to build a following. And a “following” is what we all want. We want repeat customers, or at least for those customers to become our fans and advocates and refer their friends, family, and business associates to us. Without a sound basis for providing fundamental services, we fall very flat, very fast. It is important to put first things first!
Show up and put in the work
There are many more Jerry Kramers than Deon (Prime Time) Sanders. If you don’t know Jerry Kramer, he was the right guard on Lombardi’s champion Green Bay team. Not flashy, but sound, did the hard boring work, day in and day out. Kramer may not have had the most talent, yet he performed consistently good and often great. A “Prime Time” superstar comes along occasionally, yet we shouldn’t depend on a superstar. Talent is on a bell curve and most of us live on the downward slope of that curve. Hard work on the fundamentals and consistent training paves the way for a rewarding and successful career.
At Vista, we live in the fundamentals and enjoy the exercise of identifying the tasks that should be learned and tackled first. You won’t find much flash or sizzle with us. But the Vista steak is the best there is. We like it that way, and so do our clients! We don’t compromise quality and excellence to get faster results or bigger rewards. We do it right the first time, every time. The payoff? A satisfied customer base that grows with each success. That’s how we measure success – happy clients who come back again and again. Getting the fundamentals right can lead to a deeply satisfying and rewarding professional career.
Learn More About The Author
Tim McKey
CEO/Owner
Vista Consulting Team
