Oswald Letter

What We Can Learn from Putting on Our Socks

Clear directions are a critical element in the successful execution of any task. To bake a batch of mouth-watering cookies, you need a recipe that clearly lists the ingredients and how they need to be combined in order to deliver the final result you’re looking for. If you need to travel from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible, clear directions will get you there.

The same is true of the people who work for you. They need you to clearly articulate what it is that you want them to accomplish and, if need be, to provide the directions so that they can deliver on your wishes in the most efficient and effective manner.

The legendary college basketball coach John Wooden started every season by showing his players how to put their socks on properly. Yes, you read that correctly! He taught 18- to 22-year-old men how to put their socks on to start every season.

Does that sound like overkill?

It may be, but you can’t argue with the results. Wooden won 10 NCAA Basketball Championships in a 12-year span at UCLA. And it all started with teaching his players how to put on their socks. Wooden believed that if the players didn’t put their socks on properly it led to blisters and that blisters prevented his players from performing at their best.

As a manager, you need to clearly articulate what you want each person on your team to achieve. You need to make sure each person understands how they contribute to the greater good and, ultimately, help make the team succeed. And, as the leader, you need to be willing and able to show them how to do it down to the last detail if that’s what’s necessary for them to learn the proper procedures and techniques.

I’m not advocating micromanaging your people. But clearly stating what it is you need them to accomplish and providing the training and feedback they need to be successful is part of your job. And if you want your people to succeed, you need to be willing to provide it. I’m sure John Wooden didn’t have to tell his players how to put on their socks more than once, but he did take the time to tell them in order to avoid problems in the future.

There are a number of lessons in Wooden’s approach to his players’ socks:

  1. It takes patience to be a good manager. Spending even 15 minutes to teach grown men how to put their socks on demonstrates that Wooden had a great deal of patience. As a manager, you can’t assume that your people automatically know how to best execute even the most mundane tasks. You must be patient enough to take the time to show them.
  2. The details are important. Wooden understood that spending 15 minutes at the beginning of every season could save him, his players, and the team countless hours of missed time and trips to the training room. As a manager, you need to pay attention to the details and convey to your people how important they are.
  3. Take the time to teach. As a manager, you’re also a teacher. Wooden knew this, too. You have experience and wisdom that you can pass on to those who work for you. Take the time to show them the best way to do things. Let them benefit from your experience. Don’t just assume that they’ll figure it out or that they’ll have their own way of doing things. It’s likely you’re in the position you’re in because you have been successful in the past. Pass that knowlege on. Embrace your role as a teacher.

I once had a boss who was unable to clearly explain what he wanted from me and my team. What was worse, when he did provide us with a direction, he would often change his mind. All the work we did to get to deliver what he had originally asked for was wasted. This went on repeatedly. He’d ask for something and we’d deliver it only to find that he now wanted something else. The result was that my team and I grew very frustrated with the fact that the direction constantly changed and that everything we did ended up in vain. Needless to say, we lost respect for my boss, and eventually he lost me and the team. Don’t be that guy.

It’s apparent to me that John Wooden was a patient, detail-oriented teacher, and those traits contributed to his enormous success. We can all learn something from his simple approach to coaching basketball. Apply it to your role as manager and good things will happen. I can’t promise you 10 championships, four undefeated seasons, and an 88-game winning streak, but I can promise you’ll be a better manager.

1 thought on “What We Can Learn from Putting on Our Socks”

  1. I was recently certified as a national trainer for the Time to Teach system, which uses many of John Wooden’s tenets in the classroom. As an educator and trainer, I believe you are spot on when you talk about explicitly communicating your goal and expectations. Frustration is caused not by a lack of a place to go (a goal), but by a way to get there (method or process). Communication is inherently imperfect, so be as clear and explicit as possible when imparting your vision to the ones who will make it happen.

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