I just spent most of the weekend watching our Milwaukee Brewers baseball team win two playoff games. This got me thinking: What does my postseason look like? What is the goal you are working towards so that all the practice and preparation you do can be put to good use?
Product launches
Our postseason is product launches. We spend months (and sometimes years) building new products and services. Then it comes time to release those products to the world. That’s the postseason. It’s the time when we win or lose based upon how well we planned, prepared and practiced during the regular season.
I like this analogy because product launches occur in a short period of time. There is fanfare and lots of travel to get the word out while exhibiting at trade shows.
What’s your postseason
Defining your postseason is important because if you can’t define it, I have some bad news. You’re not a linchpin because linchpins make things happen. You read this blog because you are or want to become indispensable to your organization. It’s not because you’re the only one who knows where the bodies are buried, but instead because you bring new products and services to life.
Your postseason is when you find out if you did it right. Did you identify the right market and understand what they needed the new product to do? Only a handful of baseball players reach the playoffs each year. Then an even smaller number make it to the World Series and only half of them achieve the biggest level of success in the postseason: winning the World Series.
Not all your postseasons will be winners
Sometimes your launch will be successful enough, like the baseball team that reaches the second round of the playoffs after having not been there for decades. Sometimes your postseason won’t exist at all. You’ll realize the product or service is just not yet ready for prime time. Then, once every great while, you’ll win it all. You’ll hit a home run that could catapult you to even bigger and better things.
Take a few moments right now to figure out what your postseason looks like. If you’re in the mood to share, take another moment and put your thoughts in the comments below.
I like the analogy…it applies to all things in life, including life itself!
It’s important to realize that you may have to adjust on the fly. A key component of a product launch (or starting pitcher) may go down in the first inning. How you prep for this makes you a linchpin within the organization. Much like a good manager or team captain, your responsibility is to keep cool and lead by example. Find a way to keep the postseason alive or realize that you didn’t win this time and move forward.