On Friday night the Philadelphia Flyers made some history with their 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semi-finals. By winning four games in a row the team completed an improbable series win after trailing 3-0, a feat accomplished by only two other teams in NHL history. For now, the Flyers can stake their claim to the biggest comeback in the history of any Philadelphia sports franchise. Oh, by the way, can you tell I’m a fan?
I promise this posting won’t be a recap of the game or the series. Since my thoughts typically focus on leadership issues I want to offer a few brief observations about the lessons I noted as the Flyers battled back from the brink of elimination. What did they do that ensured success? How do we respond as leaders and organizations when we face similar circumstances? Can a sports metaphor translate into the workplace or the boardroom?
The first thing I noticed as the team fell behind early in the series was their attitude. Hockey is a sport where a bad bounce, a surprise deflection, too many penalties, or a simple defensive breakdown leads to a scoring chance or a goal for the other team. The Flyers experienced their fair share of these circumstances in the first three games and yet their attitude didn’t change. They felt like they were playing well enough to win and knew that sooner or later their system would produce some goals and victories. As injuries mounted they didn’t complain but simply recognized the need to dig deeper or step up their play to overcome each new obstacle. Leaders must understand the important role their attitude plays in setting the tone and pressing ahead, even when challenges seem insurmountable.
Hockey is perhaps the best example of a team sport. Because of the speed, physical nature of the game, and variety of skills required, no one player can deliver a victory for his team. Believing in one’s teammates becomes paramount when facing adversity. It might have been easier to blame the goalie or a line-mate for the level of their play but the Flyers never did that. They acknowledged their failures and celebrated their successes as a team. Throughout the series, post-game interviews often reflected this confidence and trust in each other. Business leaders and their teams will struggle during hard times if they make the situation about themselves when things are going well or blame others when things are falling apart. Trusting team members and believing in each other could be the difference between losing and finding ways to come back.
A final thought about the Flyers and leadership. Their captain, Mike Richards, isn’t known for his fiery rhetoric or in-your-face discipline. He tends to model leadership by his level of play on the ice. As organizational leaders become further removed from the people they lead it is harder for those followers to observe how they conduct themselves every day. This situation is often magnified when the company is on the precipice of failure. Leaders in these circumstances sometimes try to insulate themselves from the very troubles and anxiety being felt by employees and others. A better strategy would be to model the winning attitude and never quit spirit you hope to instill in the team. That’s what Flyers leaders did throughout the Boston series.
Tonight the team will face a new set of challenges as they try to win one more series before the Stanley Cup finals. I’m optimistic because they have shown fans they know how to handle adversity. I believe they can do it because they believe in each other and their coaching system. Regardless of the outcome, my respect for the team has never been higher because they have reminded me that being down is not an excuse for being out. It’s a lesson worth remembering for years to come. Raising the Stanley Cup will just be a bonus.
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