Momentum

August 5, 2016

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​When a team has turned the tide, is gaining strength, and is pressing forward, you can sense it. Momentum isn’t something you can measure in a classic business sense, but you can sure feel it when it’s building!

We can all relate to our favorite sporting events, when one team begins to build on small or sudden success.  They capture the moment, then leverage that positive feeling.  Momentum shifts and the one who has it presses forward.  If there is enough energy behind it, momentum can swiftly shift the entire contest to the win column.  As a spectator at a live event, you can feed off that feeling and even infuse your energy to the team.  The skill and training must be there, but momentum converts those elements into victory.  The force of momentum on team effort is exponential.  It is a Force Multiplier.

Momentum is also elusive.  It can shift and disappear as quickly as it appeared, depending on what the competition does or the effects of external forces.  To sustain momentum is the secret of success.  True momentum isn’t the result of adrenaline; it’s derived from a more renewable energy source.

In a business setting, where does momentum start?  How does it form and what makes it grow?  What sustains momentum?  From what I’ve experienced through the years, momentum starts when something good happens within a team, however small.  To take hold, however, momentum depends on another essential element: Shared Purpose.  If a team doesn’t share its collective goals and visualize the destination, a spark will never create a fire.  Momentum requires fuel to create power.

Fuel comes in the form of Disciplined Execution.  When each team member knows, almost instinctively, what to contribute and when, good things begin to happen.  Those good things generate momentum and one good thing leads to another.  Before you know it, a cohesive and committed team gets on a roll, gaining trust and confidence in one another along the way.  It’s all about the team, not the efforts of only one team member.  The results can be exponential and the ride thrilling!

You can’t watch momentum, though you can surely feel it and observe the results produced.  It’s what makes doing good business fun!

Momentum empowers high-performing teams to enjoy the journey and creates tremendous value along the way.


10 Comments

  • Great post Bill. We are experiencing a ton of momentum across the business and proud to collaborate with the local teams that are making it happen!

  • Thanks for joining the conversation – and for leading the charge in the Southeast, where GREAT things are happening!

  • This is a very positive and accurate post. Once you gain momentum, it is critical to keep doing the things that began the momentum to continue the momentum. Very well said!

    • Coach, you must be giving some incredible locker room speeches!

  • Michael Pullen

    8 years ago

    Great article Bill. Very true on several levels, that momentum can take on a life of its own. Disciplined Execution, also translates to executing what is promised in the field. Delivering what is promised, that word travels fast in a market. Positive feedback, as well as negative. It translates into trust and before you know it you are held with higher esteem when you enter a room. Chris Cathey once told me about walking into a room for a Pre-bid and when he walked in a couple competitors left because they said if he was there, they couldn’t win it. That is the momentum we want to build and must continue to strive for through out our markets. That is when you start to ‘ride the rocket ship’ of success.

    • You’re right, Michael. Keeping those promises made will set us apart!

  • Cheyne

    8 years ago

    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
    Fired Up!!!!!!
    Pissed off for GREATNESS!!!

    • Why don’t you open up and let us know how you REALLY feel?!?

  • I’m pretty sure we can hear the wind up of the turbines here Bill. BW said it!

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