Momentum
The power of a streak
Mass x Velocity = Momentum
There is power in momentum. It’s critical to a teams success — it can either propel you into the future or bury you. In sports, it’s obvious by looking at streaks or at records. In your team, it could be obvious if you’re knocking out deliverables and milestones but, it’s harder to pick up on sometimes. It’s not hard to start but, it’s a double-edged sword because there is positive momentum and negative momentum.
Negative Momentum
In short, it’s deadly. Once the “losing streak” begins, everything and I mean everything, starts to get questioned. This happens in sports a lot. The sky starts falling, things implode and post-game press conferences are the time to watch fireworks.
As soon as your team starts to feel like you’re not winning (projects are stalled, your milestones aren’t getting met, you’re not succeeding in what you’re doing etc.) you’re standing on the edge of a slippery slope. Questions start to fly:
Am I doing something wrong? Is the team doing something wrong? Is the company doing something wrong? Do I belong here?
If an employee or team member is already to the third or fourth question, it’s deadly. Especially if that negative momentum gets applied to your team members and not just one isolated employee. See how such a small thing can build into bigger thoughts about ones self and purpose? So how do you combat negative momentum? With positive momentum of course.
Positive Momentum
This is the lifeblood of successful companies and teams. We’re not talking about speed, velocity or even quality at this point. We’re just talking wins. Looking at sports again, a win is a win… 5 points or 55 points, it doesn’t really matter because it gets distilled down into a win column and a loss column. The same is true with your organization. The more wins you can get under your belt, the easier they become because you’re already in the rhythm of winning. Doubt has left your mind and your team is only focused on winning the next project or deliverable. This mentality starts to become contagious.
I am succeeding, We are succeeding, We want the company to succeed, Everyone is succeeding
Recalibrating
Another part of momentum is when you’re knocked off your streak. The reason a sports team sometimes loses multiple games in a row after being on a winning streak is because they’re not sure how to act. All they’ve known is winning, they don’t know how to lose. A downward spiral happens. They’re frozen by the fact that they lost and are unable to think about winning and prepare for the next win. Instead, all the thoughts surround the previous loss and how it happened. A great example to aspire to is Gary Vaynerchuck. He’s “always hustlin’ ”. It’s because he knows there’s power in momentum and the second he stops his hustle, he has to recalibrate all over again.
How do I get positive momentum?
It starts with one: One person, one win, one goal. As with anything, start small. If you’re staring down the muzzle of a large project that has a tight time-table, your first idea might be to divide and conquer the project. Stop.
Think about momentum. Momentum can come from anything, not just that specific project. Crank out a small win as a team. A win is a win, remember? 5 points or 55 points… It’s all the same. Get a win under your belt and watch the momentum you can create.
