In everyday life at work, I love to use examples from the soccer world to make my points. I love the division system and the rankings; I love it when a team during a few years gets promoted twice or more. Comparing with soccer is what I do when I want to let my co-workers know what I expect of them. My team is supposed to play in the premier division, I need premier employees. Have you ever experienced a soccer player being late for a match? Neither have I. Late to work on the other hand is rather common. So what do I expect? Our team needs to perform every day! And they all must want to become better, not just by statistics but also evolving as a human.

I am soon to be 35 years old. I have been working for longer than my youngest team players life span. When I look back, thinking about my late teens/early twenties I can’t help thinking about how little I really knew about work morale and life. During the last ten years I have been on a journey I knew nothing about. Today I am leading a group of people just about to start their journey; I like to teach them to enjoy this trip fully. If you have not read my post “The true motivation” – you should read this to understand one of my most effective tools of the matter. I have come a long way if I can get them thinking about adding value to themselves. But hey! I can’t transform all of them into self evolving super consultants, can I?.

Transfer listing your employees.
If you do not perform to the teams expectations in soccer, you are most likely put on the transfer list for sale. I can’t put my co-workers out for sale, but I can terminate underachievers. To be able to create the winning team, I must think about reinforcement and renewal from time to time. I find it natural to consider if I can make the bottom three either performing better or replacing them.

“Getting fired is nature’s way to telling you that you had the wrong job in the first place.” – Hal Lancaster, in The Wall Street Journal.

If you lack the skill of cynicism you won’t be able to create a winning team. A perfect bed of roses is made by the one willing to remove the weed.