Last month, I said yes when my friend Kim asked if I would join her to cheer on the Chicago Marathoners.
When I arrived at the meeting spot, I had a choice of signs. I picked the one that said “Run now. Wine later” and decided my cheers were going to be
“Way to go!”
“You’re amazing!”
“Look at you, you’re doing it!”
Once the super fast runners went by, I started noticing runners giving my sign “a quick point to,” some runners even spent some of their precious energy on a smile. One even said cajoled- “how about a margarita?” To which I cheered “yes!”
I found myself energized as I cheered on these runners and connected with them in a lighthearted way over my sign.
There’s something awesome about encouraging people who are doing the hard work of achieving a goal. Maybe that’s why sporting events attract so many fans.
Energy Generating Behaviors
Shaka Smart, the Men’s basketball coach at Marquette University would know what I’m talking about. He calls cheers like mine, “EGBs” which stands for energy generating behaviors. Along with tracking points scored, assists and steals, Shaka tracks each team member’s EGBs during practices and games. At the home games, they post the EGB stat on the jumbotron.
I am excited that the basketball season has started. The can-do spirit of a team who is confident is contagious, and I just love that. ❤️ It gives me energy and makes me want to do whatever I can to help the team win (including cheering until I lose my voice).
Can-do mentality
In my work with leaders that are driving change in their organizations, I see the can-do mentality in action.
Asking employees to do the extra work of getting ready for a large change like moving onto a new system that will dramatically change how they do their job is a tall order.
When the leader is able to communicate how the hard work is going to be worth it, and show them their path to victory, their employees have confidence in them.
When that leader also encourages an environment where people give each other positive reinforcement like EGBs, the team is better able to handle the stress of change, because literally they get energy from each other. It’s how our brains work. When someone encourages us, our brain releases dopamine, making us feel good and motivating us to repeat the behavior that resulted in the encouragement.
Jamie Dimon - another can-do leader
I was working at Bank One when Jamie Dimon became the CEO in 2000. Later when Bank One was acquired by JPMorgan Chase, Jamie became CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
When he took the reins of our organization, he was direct about the fact that he expected leaders at the company to solve its problems and propel its growth. He didn’t want to turn that responsibility over to outsiders.
Jamie expected a can-do culture. He told us we weren’t making money, and we needed to be better. He told us to stop wasting time in bad meetings, saying, “If someone invites you to a meeting and they don’t have an agenda, you tell them Jamie said I don’t have to go to this meeting.”
I loved that. His positivity and push for us to improve was awesome. He pushed on leaders especially. In an interview a few years back, he explained a big part of being a leader meant trusting your team.
Back when I was at the Bank, it was not unusual for someone to get a problem to solve that they had zero experience doing. They got the assignment because their leader trusted them to figure it out. They had their back.
This happened to many people, including me. I was put in charge of opening dozens of bank branches in grocery stores - and doing it quickly. It was awesome!
Earlier this year I connected with a former colleague at Chase, and she told me about all the cool stuff she has worked on over the years because of this mentality. She has loved jumping into challenges and had no problem doing it because she had all the backing and support she needed.
Set Your Team Up to Grow
The growth mentality is what winning organizations have. Consider how you as a leader can demonstrate to your team members that you trust them. Model the can-do attitude and inspire it in them.
Do this:
- Assign one of your organization’s problems to a team member who you want to develop into a leader.
- Come up with a way to measure EGBs in your organization.
- Consider meetings you attend where someone on your team is also in attendance. Empower them to represent you and stop going to that meeting.
Key Points
A “can-do” culture is built through energy-generating behaviors — the visible actions that create momentum and belief.
Optimism becomes contagious when leaders tie effort to a clear path forward and celebrate progress in real time.