At approximately 8:30pm/central, the twenty-five-year-old basketball superstar announced his decision to depart his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. At approximately 8:32pm, jerseys were set afire in Cleveland and champagne bottles were popped in Miami.
As an infrequent follower of the NBA (the team left Kansas City in 1985) but a steadfast student of human behavior, the whole spectacle was captivating.
From the hype to the reactions, there are a few take-aways for leaders and employees:
#1 Money is not a primary motivator today.
James made it clear that he wants to win championships. He could have stayed where he was, in his hometown, earning millions of dollars, being loved and fawned over everywhere. But he wants to be on a championship-caliber team, and he feels that level exists in Miami and not Cleveland. People today, in all fields, levels, ages, want to be part of something greater than themselves. James wants to be on a championship-caliber team. What do your employees and teammates want?
It's not about the money!In light of the current economic environment, employers should be thrilled to know motivation goes deeper than money. Leaders need to face that and adapt to what motivates people today. (Read Dan Pink's new book, Drive, for the research to back this up.)
What are you doing to keep your James-caliber employees motivated?
#2 Loyalty is not a one-time occurrence but it is a two-way street.
Some former James fans are calling him disloyal for leaving Cleveland. Some are saying he let the city, fans, and team down and owed it to his hometown to stay. The team's owner called him a deserter and former hero. Does he owe it to them to stay with a team he does not think will win championships? Does he owe it to them to remain with a team he does not see positioning itself to win? Does he owe it to others to forgo his personal goal of winning championships?No, he does not. And, neither do your employees or teammates.
If you got a job offer for your dream job, wouldn't you consider it? Of course. Or, would you pass on your dream job simply because your current employer hired you right out of college? There is more to loyalty than a one-time move.
Organizations need to earn loyalty all the time.What are you doing to ensure that your superstars want to be on the team? Employers, team leaders, department managers, and teammates trusting the philosophy that those kept on during the recession will stay out of loyalty are likely to be setting themselves up for disappointment.
As for loyalty being a two-way street, employees need to earn loyalty all the time too. Perhaps if the team felt more loyalty to James, they would have better positioned themselves for championships.For some reason, the team did not open the wallets to retain the caliber of players needed to surround James and form a championship team. The team made its decision and James made his. No one knows how it will turn out, but both have to live with the results of their decisions.
Are you positioned to retain your best talent? Is your best talent positioning you to win championships in your industry? What needs to happen on a regular basis to ensure effective retention and reliance on your teammates?
#3 Childish emotional rants reinforce negative opinions.
Within an hour or two of the James announcement, the team owner published an open letter to the Cavaliers fans. In the letter (link: http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gilbert_letter_100708.html), team owner Dan Gilbert wrote:"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"Gilbert, the one person in a position of power to keep James in Cleveland, intimated that James is the following:
- Former hero
- Deserter
- Narcissistic
- Self-promoter
- Coward
- Betrayer
- Former "King"
- Shameful
- Selfish
- Disloyal
- Heartless
- Callous
- Cursed
Name-calling and false guarantees only reinforce the player's decision to leave.When someone leaves your team, how do you respond? Be careful. Others are watching and listening, and they know if you say it about a former teammate, you'd say it about them too.
In another part of the letter, Gilbert states he is even more motivated now that James is leaving. He says:
If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.If it takes a teammate's departure to fire leaders up to win, then that says more about the leaders than the player--whatever the industry.
There are dozens of take-aways from the hype leading up the The Decision, to the event itself, and the reactions so far. If you ponder and implement based on the three discussed here, you will be a better leader and position your team for success better. And, you will do it without theme music, a television show, or hype. You can let your results speak for themselves.
In the meantime, Gilbert is slated to hold a press conference in about 30 minutes.It might be time to bury oneself under a rock for the next 48 hours.
