Are you Really Creating Opportunities for your Team?

With the Super Bowl just days away and Tom Brady’s retirement announcement being made public, I felt that this would be a good time to discuss how teams and individuals are built. Leveraging of course, some stories from Tom Brady, his career, and football teams.

I have a question for you. Does a backup quarterback really have an opportunity to win the Super Bowl?

If you are familiar with American football, I’m guessing that you might answer, “no”, to this question and if so, you would be mostly correct. A backup quarterback has only won the Super Bowl a handful of times and only once (in Super Bowl V) did the backup quarterback get placed into the game without having played during the other playoff games. If you’re unfamiliar with American football, allow me to describe the team structure with quarterbacks.

On a professional football team, you’ll find a starting quarterback and a backup quarterback. While the backup quarterback is watching all of the same video tape, practicing with the team, learning all the plays, and doing almost everything that the starting quarterback is doing, the backup quarterback isn’t actually playing in the game. And without this experience, the backup quarterback never truly gets an opportunity to gain muscle memory, rapid assessment, and critical decision making experience as the defense creates infinite scenarios.

This is because the backup quarterback usually only takes the field under special circumstances, which would be in the event that the starting quarterback is unable to play (usually due to injury), his team is winning by such an extreme amount that the backup quarterback couldn’t possibly screw up enough to cost the team the game, or when winning the game doesn’t matter. But even if the backup quarterback does possess the skills, he’s rarely given the opportunity.

Hopefully this makes sense when you think about sporting events because it’s a zero-sum game and the stakes are extremely high. One team is going to win and one team is going to lose. There is little room for error and the team has to have their absolute best players on the field as much as possible if they would like to have a decent chance of winning the game. And for these reasons, no team would want anyone other than their best quarterback playing in the most important game of the year.

Although I can almost guarantee that no backup quarterbacks are reading this article, I thought it would serve as a good example for discussing the topic of creating opportunities for employees. Like the backup quarterback, many employees never truly get the full opportunity to perform the duties of a more advanced role, unless through a forced situation such as a sudden organizational change or by accident over an extremely long period of time.

But unlike sporting events, there isn’t a zero-sum game being played in your place of employment and the stakes really aren’t very high in the event of a mistake. And with lack of focus on creating opportunities, it’s no wonder that valuable employees frequently switch jobs to instantly receive new opportunities and possibly an expanded role, title, or compensation.

Yet managers and human resource departments frequently seem to scratch their heads as to why employees leave the company, or worse, they fail to question why someone would have lower performance (possibly due to lack of opportunity and support from management). Rather, management frequently attributes blame to the employee for low performance and works to rid the company of the low performer. More on this last item in another article.

Managers and their teams would be better served if managers actually created opportunities for their team. Although managers may suggest that there are opportunities, there is a tendency to treat teammates like the back-up quarterback, only to be used in real situations as a last resort.

If we agree that most people have goals and a desire to grow in their career, then managers are going to need to create opportunities if they have an expectation of retaining talent. And if there are high-growth potential individuals on the team, the manager is going to need to create even bigger opportunities on an expedited timeline. Because by failing to create opportunities, the manager is certain to turnover the valuable employees.

You’re Not Actually Creating Opportunities

I’ve worked for a number of companies over the last 20-plus years, reported to numerous managers, and have observed many conversations related to employee performance and evaluations. What I have frequently observed is a lack of true opportunity creation and lack of focus or passion for creating such opportunities. Much like the backup quarterback example, the manager isn’t actually working to get the employee as much experience as possible.

During my career, I’ve heard absurd “false” opportunity statements such as, “you just have to put in your time (or some variant of this)”, “there are plenty of opportunities, you just don’t want to move to [Idaho]”, or “you need to create them for yourself.” Let’s consider about why these statements are so absurd.

Many times it’s impossible to create opportunities for yourself. If an employee needs “exposure” or a “big project”, it’s not like she can automatically inject herself into a situation.

Much like the backup quarterback can’t just walk onto the field, the employee can’t simply set up a meeting and present to the CEO. And when we talk about creating projects, many projects require some sort of approval (even if it is informal), and even when approval isn’t required, it can become a guessing game on the part of the employee as to which is the best project to pick. It’s a no-win situation for the employee and they will almost certainly be looked down upon if they incorrectly guess and pick their own project.

When we speak of relocation for an opportunity, not everyone can simply pick up their life and move to a new location. But just because someone can’t relocate doesn’t mean that they aren’t valuable and can’t grow within the company. Since the pandemic, I’ve become more hopeful that this absurdity won’t be uttered quite as frequently but the underlying issue is still there: Many managers have a lack of focus on proactively creating opportunities. But maybe we have an important distinction to make regarding managers.

Managers are managers. They aren’t necessarily leaders or coaches. How so? Let’s assume that you’re a high-level manager and like most people, you’d like to get promoted. But in order to get promoted, you need to get noticed by your superiors. Now, there are two ways to gain that notice; directly through your interactions with your superiors or indirectly when your superiors learn of, or notice the great work of the people that you lead.

Unfortunately, most managers feel that the way to get noticed is through the direct approach, which means that they will attempt to capitalize on every opportunity for their own personal gain. How does this play out? In this scenario, the high-level manager has an opportunity to speak to the CEO about a topic. If all goes well, this manager will have a positive interaction, will be noticed by the CEO, and will be one step closer to getting promoted. However, by taking this opportunity for himself, this manager doesn’t create an opportunity for one of his direct reports to rise to the occasion. And by not receiving an opportunity to perform, the employee may feel lack of support, that the manager doesn’t care about his or her career, may feel untrusted, and may ultimately disengage with the team and company.

If the manager acted more like a football coach, he wouldn’t be concerned with trying to play quarterback at the same time that he’s trying to coach the team. He would understand that his role is to develop talent for the good of the team, create opportunities for teammates, and let them win the game. If we think back to Tom Brady for a moment, his coach (Bill Belichick) for many years did just that. If you aren’t familiar with this story, I find it to be quite fascinating.

How Brady Received his Opportunity

Brady was a 6th-round draft-pick (which usually means that this player does not possess a lot of potential compared to other players) and he was the backup quarterback to Drew Bledsoe for the Patriots. It’s also important to note that Bledsoe had also recently signed a record breaking 10-year contract for the Patriots which should give you an indication that the Patriots didn’t have much intent in putting Brady in the game or ever developing him as their starting quarterback. And without ever receiving an opportunity to play in many, if any regular season games, Brady was probably destined to be a mediocre backup quarterback for the remainder of his career.

But in 2001, in week-two of the season after signing his contract, Bledsoe exited the game due to a serious injury and he would remain sidelined for another seven weeks. During this time, Brady operated as the starting quarterback, under the assumption that as soon as Bledsoe was healthy, Brady would revert back to the sidelines as a backup quarterback once again. For reasons unknown to me (aside from his 5–3 record), Brady was kept as the starting quarterback. And if Brady wasn’t fortunate enough to have received his original opportunity to play and another opportunity to continue playing after Bledsoe’s return from injury, he was given a third opportunity during the playoffs.

In 2001 during the AFC championship game, Brady suffered an ankle injury and Bledsoe replaced Brady and ended up leading the Patriots to victory. This victory demonstrated that Bledsoe was still the star player that he was before his injury. But his win created an interesting situation.

Should Tom Brady, the quarterback that had led the team to the playoffs since week-two of the season be the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, or should Drew Bledsoe, the tenured, former starting quarterback, with a 10-year contract, be returned to his original position as the starting quarterback? If it was up to Bledsoe, he would have been the starting quarterback since returning from his injury during the middle of the season and would have been the starting quarterback for the Super Bowl. But Belichick ended up choosing to have Brady start in the Super Bowl and the rest is history.

Brady went on to play in 10 Super Bowls and had 7 Super Bowl wins in his 22-year career. With hindsight, it’s easy to say that Belichick made the right choice. And while football teams don’t operate exactly the same as teams in your organization, there’s a few key take-aways.

First, Belichick was the coach and there was no way that he was ever going to be stepping onto the field as a quarterback. This meant that there was no chance for conflict between the “manager” and the “employee”, where the manager was taking away opportunities from the employee. But had Bledsoe, the leader that had “given up” his opportunity, had been the coach, I’m guessing that we could all agree that Bledsoe would have put himself back in the game and Brady would have never had a chance to shine.

Second, even though Brady became the starting quarterback by accident, Belichick continued to give opportunities to Brady as Brady continued to develop, showed promise, and proved his strengths on and off of the field. Was Brady perfect? No, not at all. But he showed a considerable amount of potential, was learning, and was continuously improving. Belichick spent time coaching, teaching, and reviewing plays with Brady to help him develop into the superstar that he is today.

So, what does this mean for managers in Corporate America and how can they operate differently to develop the Tom Brady of the business world?

The Business World

In this business world, the higher that you climb the corporate ladder, the more attention that you will likely receive. Meaning, the CEO is viewed much like the quarterback. This is in contrast to a football team where the quarterback frequently receives more attention than the coach (unless of course, the team isn’t winning). But this also begs the question, who is the leader of the team? In the business world, without question, the CEO is the leader. But with football, is Tom Brady the leader or is Bill Belichick?

The answer is, both are. Tom Brady is a leader in the locker room and on the field, but he’s also a player. Belichick is also a leader in the locker room and on the field, but in a slightly different way. As the equivalent of a CEO, Belichick has to make tough decisions as to who will play in the game, who will be on the roster and who won’t, determine the overall strategy for the game, and call the majority of the plays. It’s Brady’s job to execute those plays with precision, rally the team, take a few hits, and adapt as needed.

In our football example, leadership and execution seem straight-forward. But when we attempt to draw a parallel to the business world we see a conflict for the business leader. The leader usually thinks that he or she needs to have the spotlight to succeed. Frequently, leaders feel the need to be the star quarterback at the same time that they are being the coach. Or worse, they feel that allowing a direct report to obtain opportunities will remove opportunities for the leader. Unfortunately, this creates a lose-lose situation for the team.

In this situation, direct reports will never receive enough opportunities to hone their skills and become great contributors like Tom Brady, and chances are, these individuals will quit in search of opportunities. But what if the leader understood that he or she could succeed based on the success of others, subscribing to my push and pull philosophy, where as you pull team members to higher levels, they will ultimately push you to higher levels as well? If leaders embrace this philosophy, they will have a greater chance of professional success and will build happy and accomplished team members at the same time.

What this ultimately comes down to is a philosophy of leading from the front or leading from behind. A manager always has a choice; does she believe that she will succeed by always being at the front of everything, thus removing opportunity to help others grow. Or, lead from behind, stepping out of the spotlight, and giving members of her team an opportunity to grow. This isn’t to say that leading from behind means that the manager will be invisible or never lead from the front. It’s entirely possible to maintain a healthy balance.

Leading from the Front and Back

Years ago, I was hiring for my team and I was looking for a future right-hand person, ideally a successor for my position. Even though I didn’t have a higher role defined for me yet, I knew that it was in my best interest and the best interest of my new hire to focus on elevating this person. Regardless of not having a new position for myself, I would either find myself in a situation where my team and I had the potential to increase our scope in the current company, or I would gain my own experiences, (hopefully) develop a loyal and trusted person that would work for me anywhere I go, and ultimately leave the company for new opportunities.

What is probably most interesting about my effort was that I hired someone with very little experience. You may be asking why I would ever hire someone to become a manager if they’ve never managed people. Isn’t that always a prerequisite for any role? This is precisely the point that I’m making.

Most managers (and recruiters) require you to have performed a task before giving you the opportunity to perform the task. It’s a catch 22. How you get experience if you have to already had the experience? But if you hire for talent instead of skills, you may find some undervalued and talented performers, like Tom Brady.

You could probably think of my hire like a rookie quarterback; someone with some experience and basic knowledge, but not really the experience to be a starting quarterback and leader of a professional football team.

The person that I hired had only a few years of post-undergraduate work experience, didn’t have any analytics experience, had minimal database experience, no people management experience, and was shy and quiet. And while she lacked many of the skills and experiences necessary to be a leader, and more importantly at the time, an individual contributor, I believed that she had the ability to learn rapidly and succeed. Given all of the experience she needed, the only way that she was going to actually get this experience was by having real opportunities to grow.

In the early days after hiring her, I led from the front on almost every occasion. She needed training within the analytics domain (tools, best practices, etc.) and around our business (what we do, how we do it, and why). This training was probably the easiest part and sadly, it’s frequently the only part that managers focus on. The thought seems to be that as a manager, you train someone how to use the tools and do the job, and then just expect that the employee will magically be ready for the next role when the timing is right. However, like most people, she needed opportunities, coaching, and development to truly succeed within a short period of time.

In order for her to develop as a leader, she needed to gain exposure to other leaders, experience with decision making, communications, presentations, and to overcome her shy personality traits. To pull her along this path, I invited her to meetings as a general observer. There weren’t any tasks for her to perform but she needed to see various styles of communication, the types of questions that were being asked, and how to respond. Also, I ensured that she was introduced and seen by other leaders in the organization. From that point, I incrementally created opportunities by transitioning from leading from the front to leading from behind.

For example, when there was a presentation that needed to be delivered, I transitioned from building it myself, to having her watch me build it, to watching her build it, to having her build it on her own. Then we would review the material and I’d deliver the presentation, giving credit and calling out her work to the audience to help build her credibility and exposure. Next, she needed opportunities to present. Since she had exposure to prior presentations, she had an idea of what to do. But like the backup quarterback, she hadn’t ever played in a game.

I remember the first time that I put her in a presentation situation. She was nervous, her voice cracked, she stumbled a bit, and she didn’t have all of the answers. But with each presentation, she became more skilled. However, something interesting was happening during these presentations.

Even though she had 100% ownership, she didn’t perform like she had 100% ownership. Frequently, when questions were asked during the meetings, she would glance at me as if she was expecting me to answer or if she was looking for permission to answer. It was like the Hawthorne Effect. My mere observational presence was influencing her ability to truly perform. To create a full opportunity for her, I completely stepped out of the meetings and I left her to perform without any training wheels or safety nets.

Now, if you’re thinking that she was thrown to the wolves and didn’t have any support, this couldn’t be further from reality. She had coaching and support from me every step of the way, even when I wasn’t in the room. How, you ask?

First, I communicated my intent and process to others on the team. This not only prevented them from being caught off-guard, but it also ensured that I didn’t damage my personal brand by appearing to have abandoned my duties. Also, it allowed team members to provide her with additional support and patience during her presentations. Finally, it was an opportunity for me to directly communicate with the team and demonstrate that I was proactively working to build future leaders.

Second, I collected feedback from team members and directly from my employee. I asked her what went well, what didn’t go well, and where she felt she could use additional coaching. I asked the same questions to other team members that witnessed her work. With this feedback, I was able to provide coaching where necessary and help build her confidence.

After approximately a year and a half of learning the basics, gaining exposure, and constantly experiencing new opportunities I was able to promote her to a people leader. She had transitioned from a shy individual, with very little experience to a confident, subject matter expert. She was happy, I was happy, and we both grew and succeeded simultaneously.

Why Don’t More Leaders Behave This Way?

In my opinion, this comes down to fear, ignorance, or arrogance.

If a leader knows that they aren’t the best at their job (either through self awareness or feedback), there’s a good chance that this leader has a fear of being replaced. And if the leader is developing talent that has the potential to replace him or herself, this would probably be an ill-advised political move, even though it’s best for the company. Also, this probably crosses over into the ignorance bucket because if a leader isn’t performing well, there’s a good chance that the leader probably isn’t going to be good at pulling team members up to a higher level.

If the reason happens to be due to ignorance, I can grant a bit of forgiveness because as humans, we don’t know what we don’t know. And if a leader doesn’t know that they should be trying to create opportunities and help others grow, then it is a little unfair to expect the leader to help others grow. If this is the case, the ignorance is the fault of the leader, the leader’s leader, and possibly corporate culture.

The last, and probably the worst reason is arrogance. This may be in the form of leaders that feel that nobody can perform their job better than they can, leaders that want to exert power and control over others, or ridiculous notions of how people should behave. Whatever the specific reason is, if it is rooted in arrogance, this leader is toxic and probably isn’t going to change.

What to do About Your Current Situation

If you’re the employee who desires additional opportunities, speak up. Even though you hope that your manager will create opportunities for you, your manager isn’t a mind reader. Communicate your goals, timelines, and expectations so that your manager has a chance to create the opportunities that you’re looking for. But since there is a chance that you don’t know what you should be looking for, you may wish to ask your manager to help you understand what potential is ahead of you, so that you can build awareness, which will eventually lead to a focus on certain opportunities.

And if your manager isn’t helping you grow, either due to ignorance, arrogance, ability, or commitment, it’s in your best interest to look out for yourself and find a new manager.

While there don’t seem to be a lot of managers that believe in growing talent the way that Bill Belichick did for Tom Brady, those managers do exist if you look hard enough.

If you’re a manager, I hope that you will take this to heart and reflect on how well you are performing at creating opportunities for others. Because while opportunity creation should be a general expectation of the role, it hasn’t always been a focus point. Times are changing (for the better), where employees are no longer subjecting themselves to un-supportive companies, policies, and practices. And if you aren’t creating opportunities, you and your team will never realize your full potential.