Time-Out: A Lesson from the Volleyball Court applied to the Boardroom

📣 Time-Out: A Lesson from the Volleyball Court applied to the Boardroom 📣

Every weekend, I watch my 13 year old play volleyball. It is an intense and fun game which requires skill but also the right attitude. When the boys are working as a unit, the convert their play to points. When the players are not working as a team, their game suffers - and usually the coach calls time out. It's a pivotal moment to regroup, strategise, and ensure everyone is aligned for the play ahead.

Time Out

I have been thinking of the time out concept in my business, not because our 'game is off' but because we all work from different locations on different clients, I want to make sure we are still working as a team in the best way - with the best attitudes - possible. So yesterday we had a team huddle.

Like a coach understanding our game's strengths and weaknesses, we gathered to specifically deliberate on how to work more cohesively, especially at the front end of our engagements. This wasn't just a pause in our day-to-day client work; it was a deliberate strategy session to reflect and better align our "first quarter" game plan to those of our clients. Let's make sure the first serve is a winner, we avoid a foot faults, and we are in position to play a great game.

Why is this important? Because when it comes to risk strategy and maturity, the options on the table are many, and the stakes for our clients are high, so we think that taking a moment to ensure everyone is on the same playbook from the start is crucial.

This huddle was our moment to reflect on our approaches, share insights, and commit to a unified "first quarter" strategy that respects our customer's needs and our team's capabilities. It was a timely reminder that, sometimes, to move forward, we need to call a time-out, reassess, and then proceed with clarity and renewed vigour. Like the best sports teams, we want to harness the power of pausing, planning, and then playing to win, together.

August Advisory
#Teamwork #RiskStrategy #EngageThoughtfully #BusinessAlignment