When a sports team enters a game week, coaches prep their players with opponents’ game films, offensive/defensive strategies, and practice. The team competes against the other team, and after the game, they evaluate the win or loss by watching their performance on film.
A military unit participates in the same intentional cycle. Officers brief the unit on a particular mission and proposed tactics. The unit sets out to complete the mission’s objectives. Once their objectives are complete, they debrief the mission.
Both sports teams and military units rely heavily on cycles of briefing, executing, and debriefing to facilitate the growth of their players and soldiers. What would it look like for these groups to lose that discipline and/or time to complete these cycles? In my opinion, they would see an absence of emerging leaders.
Organizations that nurture leadership tirelessly take advantage of learning cycles for people to grow and internalize key contributions. If people within an organization aren’t expected to grow, then that organization is not fit to grow.
