A Public Collapse
On Sunday, January 16th, the Dallas Cowboys were on the San Francisco 49ers 41-yard line with 14 seconds left to play and no timeouts remaining. Trailing 23-17, quarterback Dak Prescott was driving the team towards a potential miraculous comeback.
After taking the snap from center, Prescott performed a quarterback draw and began running down the middle of the field rather than to the sidelines to stop the clock. With only 7 seconds remaining, he slid down at the 24-yard line. The clock continued to run as players from both teams frantically lined up for the game’s final play.
Rather than the standard end-of-the-game situation, this turned into a worse case scenario for the Cowboys.
Shown in the picture above, the referee began to spot the ball at the line of scrimmage with only 2 seconds remaining. Before Prescott could take the snap and have an opportunity for a final pass into the end zone, the clock ran out showing 00:00 time remaining.
The referee then announced six words which will live in Cowboys infamy, “That’s the end of the game.”
The 49ers celebrated. The Cowboys were in shock. The fans in attendance were aghast. And a media firestorm ensued.
The following morning, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky and Rex Ryan discussed the Cowboys’ inefficiencies with great fervor on the network’s Get Up program.
Orlovsky’s analysis gave great insight into how to properly handle worse case scenarios.
What Worse Case Scenarios Reveal
It has often been said that crisis does not create character, it reveals it.
Crisis also reveals a person or team’s situational awareness and ability to execute under pressure. Orlovsky said, “This play is about the Cowboys’ lack of awareness and lack of execution.”
Proving his point, the Cowboys displayed a misunderstanding of their field position and the time remaining on the clock. Orlovsky noted, “At some point you have to declare yourself down because the extra 2-to-3 yards is not worth it because it’s going to take an extra second-or-two.” Ryan added, “It’s not about getting into a spot to spike the football but to run a play. That certainly wasn’t on the minds of the Dallas Cowboys.”
While worse case scenarios can reveal a lack of awareness and ability to execute under pressure, they also shine a light on the top thing a leader can do to successfully handle those situations.
The #1 Thing Leaders Can Do To Handle Worse Case Scenarios
Orlovsky said, “How many times did they practice it not working ideally? … When your blood pressure is up and it’s the moment, how many times did they prepare for the worse case scenario? That’s what it looked like to me that they didn’t prepare for the worse care scenario.”
I have trained many people. You probably have as well. Most training is for ideal situations. It is to give a person the fundamental skills necessary to carry out a minimum task or assignment. Most training does not prepare a person for any complexity or worse case scenarios.
This is the question Orlovsky was asking. Did their training prepare the Cowboys and Dak Prescott for this moment? Most observers think it did not. They look at the team’s play-calling, clock management, substitution patterns, lack of urgency, and Prescott handing the ball to the center rather than the referee at the end of the game as evidence of their concerns.
To alleviate any concerns your organization may have in your leadership during moments of crisis, the number one thing you can do is constantly practice worse case scenarios.
Create difficult and stressful situations for your team in training. Apply pressure in training situations so they will feel less pressure in real life. Make mistakes in practice, not in the game. Y0u want to put people in actual situations where they can mess up in a safe environment and then learn from the experience. Smart leaders practice crisis situations so often that proper behavior becomes second nature.
A Sacred Trust
Orlovsky concluded by saying, “I (Cowboys owner Jerry Jones) pay you as a coach to be ready for the moment and I pay you as a quarterback to be elite in the moment and neither of those happened.”
Leaders, you have been paid and given a sacred trust. You have been asked to be ready for worse case scenarios and be elite in those moments. Have you practiced for those situations so often that you will be when the time comes?
If not, get your team together and start preparing them today.
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