By JW Dobbe

January 11, 2022 | minute read

The soccer world is filled with extra excitement as the top two goal scorers in the world have recently made monumental switches to new teams. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo play a significant role in getting the desired end result of the ball in the back of the net. Despite them often being viewed only as “forwards” or “attacking players”, they, and the rest of their teams are often taking steps back to learn, plan their change and execute.

If you are an athlete yourself or familiar with the world of athletics, you have probably heard of players watching game day film. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, their teams, and thousands of athletes around the world will sit down individually or with their teammates to watch past film of themselves competing. Taking a step backward to review what they did in particular circumstances and discuss what was going on in the background, such as the thoughts in their heads or environment settings, helps reveal why things unfolded the way they did.

This is a powerful part of the process of creating successful change in any organization. Going through this with your team allows the ability to reveal what specific things need to be addressed in order to think newly and create different actions that bring different results.

Right now, leaders are facing the uncertainty of the omicron variant and what action, or possibly more important, inaction should be taken. It would be difficult to successfully manage change for any leader without the context of the organization, what has happened in response to covid in the last two years, and what is currently going on in the background of your organization.

This may seem daunting but becomes simplified when you take a step back and ask yourself what kind of change you want to see in your organization. In other words, what is the desired end result? Now you can dig a little further and look at whether the recent actions taken are a reflection of the change you want to make. Pay extra attention to what is going on in the background and focus on what is working or hindering the action you want to take. Once you have done this, you can start to focus on planning your new game plan moving forward and implementing that to get the change you’ve envisioned.

Fortune 500 organization or world-class athlete, taking a step back is critical to creating successful change. In a large complex organization, this requires serious focus and intentionality, because creating successful change is no small feat.