Monthly Archives: November 2018

This past week I listened to The Tom Farris Show podcast that a mentor of mine recommended. The particular episode was with Seth Godin on How to Say “No,” Market Like a Professional, and Win at Life. There’s gold throughout the whole episode, but what stood out to me was the “Yo-Yo Union” story referring to how some companies become so successful, especially when other people can’t figure out why.

   

The podcast refers to Supreme clothing line and how popular their Supreme t-shirts are. Essentially they look like a $3.00 t-shirt, yet people stand in long lines to pay $40.00 for it.

How come?

Seth Godin explains by using what he refers to as the yo-yo union. If you work with kids or have kids of your own, you’ve definitely experienced how this plays out. Yo-yos are regularly banned and frowned upon in school, especially elementary school. It goes in phases. Every few years a kid shows up with a yo-yo. If the kid is of low status then it’s the end, nothing to worry about. What if this kid is well liked though, someone who people want to be around? If a well-liked kid brings in a yo-yo to school then the next week you can expect 2-3 more kids to bring in a yo-yo. The week after that there will be 6 more kids with a yo-yo. Every week more kids will be bringing in yoyos until it gets out of hand that it needs to be banned. The secret to the yoyo becoming popular again is that the right kid needs to bring in a yo-yo the first day.

Are you an entrepreneur who is selling something that you want others to buy? Well, maybe it’s not the product that you’re selling. It could be that you need to follow in the footsteps of Supreme and find the RIGHT kid or consumer to buy into your product.  

I know from personal experience how this phenomenon works, especially in middle school. I work at a day treatment facility for middle schoolers and we have had to ban Rubik’s cubes, fidget spinners, and other objects because the well-liked kid is the one who was first interested in it and brought one in. From there on every other kid starting purchasing and bringing them in as well.

You may be reading this and thinking, “But Jenna I’m not an entrepreneur trying to sell something, I’m a coach, a parent, or an athlete.”

Yes, this pertains to you as well.

The yo-yo analogy is an important story for you all to remember. We are all selling something. As coaches, you are selling a vision, a goal, a mission, or a set of expectations to your team. If you are a parent you are also selling expectations for your child. As an athlete, you are in theory selling your athletic abilities to your team and coaches to essentially “purchase” either a successful performance, season, or scholarship.

In order for whatever you’re selling to blow up, you have to create buy-in. To do this you need to find the “right” person to start the trend, just like the right kid for the yo-yos.

A great example of this is a coach attempting to get their team to buy into the team values. At the beginning of the season, you may have spent the time to collaborate with your team on establishing values that you want them to all live by throughout the season. How will you get your team to buy into these values and actually implement them in and out of practice? Find that athlete on your team who once they buy into the values, everyone else will follow. Every team, group, or friend circle has this person. It’s the one person who is just so well-liked and fun to be around that they start fads without even realizing it.

Find that person on your team, create a strong trusting relationship with them, get them to buy into the values and implement them. Once they do that the rest of the team will start to see the importance of the values as well and follow suit.

Tune into the podcast I mentioned here! 

The task is simple; Do Your Job.

This is what successful teams live by.

If each member on your team is doing their job, they will become successful. Sounds so simple yet so many teams struggle. Why is that?

Well for starters, not many teams take the time to discuss what each member’s role is and how each role is important and vital to the teams’ success. Whether you’re the star player, a captain, the social butterfly, the cheerleader, or the benchwarmer; you have a role on your team and your team needs you to own that role.

Below is an example of how a team functions successfully when each member understands their part on the team and owns their role.

Sophomore year in collegiate track and field, my 4×400 meter relay team was disqualified at Nationals because I stepped on the line more than three consecutive times.  We went in ranked third, which is the best we’ve been for a while and were contestants to break the school record. We fell short in the prelims and due to our disqualification had to watch the finals in the stands.

We came back with a vengeance and used that setback as a comeback and went into the next season determined to win the outdoor National Championship title. What happened though was so much bigger than that. We banded together and knew each person’s role in the relay.

We knew what each leg had to do in order to win the title and were constantly affirming each others place on our relay. Not only did we end up winning the outdoor title, but we won the indoor title and continue to win the next 4 years breaking records, re-breaking our own records, and creating a strong 4×400 meter relay for years running. This wouldn’t have been possible without our mindsets and discussing how each runner’s role was vital to our success. Each runner was exactly aware of what they had to do.

Here were our roles coming back that next year after being disqualified.

Jenna (myself): As the starter, my job is to get out HARD. I needed to ensure that my team was in a good spot by beating others through the first corner, striding the backstretch, and then digging down as deep as I can to run the last 200 meters to the best of my ability. Although I am in my lane the whole way I needed to make sure I hand off near the front to make sure the next runner could get to the cut in a good place.

Becky: As the second runner, Becky knew she needed to get that baton and charge the corner. After the first corner is the cut and she knew she had to have enough space to cut smoothly without getting boxed in or stuck behind another runner. On the backstretch, she had to continue fighting for the place we were in and make sure she held strong near the front pack (if there was one). As she ran down the home stretch she would give it everything she had left to hand off to the next runner. The more space she could give the next runner, the better.

Shannon: Now Shannon had a very stressful leg on our relay. No matter WHAT place we were in, it was up to HER to move us forward into first or second place. If it wasn’t first she would make damn sure that we were as close to first as possible for our anchor. This way our anchor wouldn’t have to make up so much ground. We depended on Shannon to do the unthinkable pretty often, and she never let us down. Once she got the baton her focus was on whoever was in front of her and MOW THEM DOWN. If we were already in first then she made sure she put us in the lead even further. When she handed off to the anchor, she would put us in a place where we knew we were contenders to win.

Claire: As our anchor, a lot holds in the balance for Claire. This is what it comes down to. We trusted Claire to carry us through, to keep up the hard work we have put forth so far, and then some more. She had to run against some of the fastest 400 runners in Division III and she did it with a feisty confidence that was beyond fun to watch. Her competitiveness drive was on her side as she would run her leg as fast as humanly possible, running not for herself, but for God and her teammates. We knew it if came down to the home stretch that Claire would always find a way to cross that finish line first.

When everyone on the team understands their role and how they contribute to the team, the whole team works together and functions like a well-oiled machine. Each person doing their part and all working towards a common goal.

We trusted each other to perform our role and own it to the best of our abilities. When we were not running our leg we were cheering each other on. At practice, we raced together side by side, as sisters in sweat. This relay team was so much more than a relay. It was a relay of sisters who encouraged each other, supported each other, and most importantly trusted in each other’s roles and OWNED THEM.