Why the aversion by some business leaders when they hear the words “basic skills” or “fundamentals” – they shrink away and think that “I am well beyond that. I’m too seasoned – it’s too easy, too elementary for me.”
You must know that I love football – Soccer, that is. I’m obsessed with it for so many reasons. It’s a game of immense skill.
Fernando Torres of Chelsea FC and Spain
And what I love about the most trophied teams- the UEFA Champions or the World Cup winners – the national teams of Brazil, Spain or Italy, the English Premier League or the Bundesliga – is they use the basic skills every single day in training, in practice, and for warm-up to every game.
That’s their key to success – each player perfects the basic skills. That’s what makes them champions – and gets them paid the big bucks.
Passing, trapping, dribbling, juggling, blocking, volleying, crossing, sprinting, agility, shooting
Perfecting the basic skills offers the comfort and the confidence that frees one to use your innate talent, strategies, tactics and creativity.
Years ago, I coached a team of young girls who turned into champions. They worked their way to top levels and first place in the league because we practiced the basic skills every practice. The trick was for me as a coach to find new and fresh ways for them to practice them to keep the effort lively and interesting. That’s what made it fun.
For us, today, the name of the game is trust and credibility. How well do we connect with people in our interactions to build deeper relationships? Are we well-trained in the basic skills of character, relatedness, and full communication?
What are our basic skills that we have perfected for the drills – to take us through those high stakes moments we invariably find ourselves in that drive the enormous results we are charged with producing.
So, let’s look at basic skills differently. Shall we?
