Photo of Coors Field sunset by Eva Doyle

Musings on Baseball and Corporate Culture

I’ve been taking a break from things for a few weeks, enjoying a bit of summer.  Here in Denver, that means taking in some Rockies games and musing about fairness, accountability, and corporate culture.  (It’s hard for me to attend anything without finding some lesson in leadership.)  If you want to skip the baseball details, head to the “Actions and Consequences” section.

First, Baseball Talk

Last night, during a game against the Astros, a fan (wearing an Astros shirt) interfered with a ball in play.  The Astros batter had hit a ball toward the stands in the outfield, and the Rockies left fielder was about to grab it when a fan stuck his glove over the railing. It wasn’t totally clear from the video that I could see how much the fan’s glove deflected the ball, but it was very close.  The officials determined that it had, and called the runner out.

This fan’s actions had several consequences.  First, what had been a triple turned into the third out for that inning.  Second, the fan himself was escorted from the game. He hurt his team and himself.  The Rockies went on to win on a walk-off homer in the 9^thinning, but if that fan had let the ball remain in play, there’s a good chance the Astros would have scored.

Actions and Consequences

It did make me think about actions and consequences in other situations.  How many companies would remove a customer for violating their rules, I wonder.  I think it’s great that the Rockies followed through.  Interfere with a ball in play, and you’re outa there.  That’s the rule.  Maybe the person complained they didn’t know that rule.  Didn’t matter.  Out they went, to cheers from the crowd, I might add.

The previous night, another Astros fan got into an altercation with a Rockies fan.  There appeared to be some pushing and shoving going on, and two Rockies employees went down to that row to see what was going on. The Astros fan appeared to be drunk, or at least a bit unsteady on his feet.  The Rockies ushers appeared, at first, to let the fan remain, but the crowd started to chant “Throw him out!  Throw him out!”, as fans will do.  But that seemed to give the ushers the authority to escort him up the steps. Once again, a customer had violated a rule or standard, and was paying the price.  Support from the crowd helped.  No one likes rude, obnoxious, physically violent fans, especially from the opposing team.

Lessons for Leadership

As corporate leaders, our disciplinary actions take place in private, away from any chanting crowd. And that’s as it should be in a workplace.   But sometimes we need to imagine that we have a cheering crowd supporting our actions. Too often, corporate leaders let things slide or soften their approach when they need to be absolutely clear about the unacceptability of certain behaviors or actions.

When you stand firm, however, you will likely be pleasantly surprised by the result.  People know when a co-worker needs to be corrected and directed.  They know when it happens.  Even if they may sympathize with the co-worker to his/her face, they are likely cheering you behind that co-worker’s back.

People like and respect fairness.  They know that enforcing it isn’t always easy, but it is the boss’s job.  Think about the rules of fairplay for your environment.  Think about the crowd cheering you on, albeit silently.  And go get ‘em, slugger.