Video Game Success

Do you remember getting that new video game?  It might have been as a kid.  It might have been as an adult.  It might even be that new game on your smart phone.  You play it once and get an embarrassingly low score.  You reset it and try again and an hour later you are feeling pretty good about yourself....You are making progress and telling others about it.

You just experienced failing to success.  Each time our character dies in the game or time expires we have learned one more thing for that next round.  The little bit of success we taste drives us to try again and we keep getting better.  Sometimes it's is the score that motivates us.  Sometimes it's simply improving.  Sometimes it's a little encouragement from a friend.  

Coaching our teams can be a lot like this.  We need to make the environment safe enough to try new things and take risks and challenging enough to help our teams learn through experience and want to do it again.  It's a fine line at times.

Keep encouraging and supporting.  Celebrate the successes, and coach through the failures.  Watch the growth when your team fails to success.  When the high score becomes routine,  a new game or a new level may be just the right thing.