Want To Learn How to "Win" Big? Do What Team Oracle Did!

The dramatic come from behind win by the Oracle Team in the America's Cup race captured the news over the last week. Even if you don't know a thing about boating or sailing, you have to admire a team that can come back from that far behind to win. No let me correct that, it was a "Very Big Win".
An article in the Sept. 26th edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) - How Oracle Saved the America's Cup - gave a great summary of what the team did to sail into "The Cup's" history book. From this summary I was able to identify several tactics that the Oracle Team employed that are easily transferred to your career or business.

How Effective Teams Deal With Challenge

Recently, we worked with a church ministry to create a mentorship program for fatherless homes. Fatherlessness is a rapidly growing problem in the nation; and, it is also one they believe the church is uniquely equipped to address. Their mission was to create an awareness of this problem on a larger scale. After completing their mission statement, identifying their value structure, designating inner-city communities for outreach; and, nominating strategic directors, the church leader thought they would have overwhelming success. When the first obstacles arose, he told us, "I thought we were clearly aligned on the importance of the mission. Yet, when I talked with the directors about overcoming these problems and enlisting more people from the community to help, their response was, 'it's too big for us to solve. This collapsed the whole organization!"
Often when people are faced with challenges that prompt them to work around unexpected adversity they fall back into routine responses. Many studies have demonstrated that the first emotional response to setbacks or adversity is fear. Successful teams confront adversity with courage, making decisions to realign responsibilities where necessary.