A Sense of Where You Are

When John McPhee (future Pulitzer Prize winning author of over 30 non-fiction books) met Bill Bradley (future Rhodes Scholar, Collegiate All-American, NBA Hall-of-Famer, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate), both were at the beginning of their careers. Mr. McPhee’s 1965 book A Sense of Where You Are, is about Bradley when he was the best basketball player Princeton had ever seen.

The book’s title comes from a scene where Bradley stands talking with McPhee on a court, facing away from the basket. Without looking back, Bradley tosses a ball over his shoulder, and it swishes through the hoop; McPhee retrieves the ball and Bradley repeats the feat. “When you have played basketball for a while, you don’t need to look at the basket when you are in close like this,” Bradley says, “You develop a sense of where you are.”

For Bradley, knowing “where you are” on the basketball court meant that after considering all his options – pass, dribble or shoot if he had the ball; set a screen or break for a pass without the ball – he would increase his chances of picking the right option for that moment to create a successful outcome on the court.

For managers, “knowing where you are” helps you select the best option at the moment to create successful outcomes in the workplace through the efforts of your people:

If “where you are” is the need to affect change (short term)

Focus on changing habits and behaviors

If “where you are” is the need to drive results (medium range)

Focus on measurable targets for participants to hit

If “where you are” is the need to create a culture defined by excellence

Focus on defining what the “model” employee is in your environment

Putting the Ideas into Action

Short Term: Best options are frequent reinforcement strategies like personal words of encouragement and praise, hand-written note cards and inexpensive on-the-spot awards

Medium Range: Select appealing rewards that will be more than paid for by the performance required to earn them – and then keep the rewards and targets “front of mind” for all participants

Long Term: Publicly recognize your “best of the best” in front of peers to spotlight what excellence looks like in your work environment

About the Author: Don Spare

Don Spare is President of West Coast Recognition, a consulting organization helping leaders inspire engaged workers, motivate championship-type performance and drive cultures of excellence. He is also a Senior Business Partner with MTM Recognition, a leader in award design, award manufacturing, creative communications, product sourcing, customer service, fulfillment and administration of some of the most successful reward and recognition programs in the industry. Previous to his partnership with MTM, Mr. Spare was inducted into the Jostens Recognition Hall of Fame – an honor earned by only ten other recognition professionals in the 40-year history of the organization. Prior to his business career, Mr. Spare was a first-team baseball All-America shortstop, inductee into his college athletic Hall of Fame, professional for the Kansas City Royals baseball organization and a college baseball coach, during which time he mentored numerous future big leaguers, including one Hall-of-Famer. He is a respected writer, speaker and trainer.