In 1976, actor Walter Matthau, aka, Morris Buttermaker, was the alcoholic, pool cleaner and former minor league baseball player, coaching a group of misfit Little League players in the movie, Bad News Bears. For those who did not see the original, a “modern’ version was created in 2005 with Billy Bob Thornton.

If you remember the movie, you probably just had a hearty chuckle. Here’s a trailer from the movie with Morris coaching the kids with a PBR and cigarette in hand. Wow, things have changed.

What was not originally funny, was my version coaching the Bad News Bears, in Junior Baseball, in 20xx. No, I was not carrying around a PBR and smoking a cigarette, but I also had not played baseball since I was in the 6th grade. And on the field, our results looked like it.

In our first preseason game, we lost 18-1. 

We were the Bad News Bears.

So instead of packing it in, and finishing the 6-pack of PBR and carton of cigarettes, I analyzed the game scorecard.

Frankly, there were a lot of reasons, but one of the core reasons is that our fielding was terrible. We overthrew balls, balls went through our legs, and we could not catch consistently. We had some talent, but as a team, we were collectively awful. No one trusted each other.

So, we had to get back to the fundamentals, throwing the ball and catching the ball.

See, some of our kids had great arms, and threw the ball fast, but the poor kid on the other side couldn’t catch the ball. Other kids had bad arms, and the fielder would not be close enough to catch the ball. Or they were bored, because they were just waiting to throw the ball fast again.

How does baseball apply to business?

In business, that ball is the leadership’s message. It’s the vision, strategy, and execution. If we throw out that message too fast, the message will not be heard. If we are too far away, we will not be heard. If we don’t throw it enough, we will not get good at it. The problem is that our team will not trust us, and they will not know what game we are playing.

Bad News Bears examples in Business for Strategic Planning and Execution:

You have only one meeting to discuss your Company Vision.

You only discuss your quarterly initiatives (OKRs) at the end of the quarter.

You only track and reward outcomes.

How did we solve the baseball problem?

We put in a simple drill. We lined up half the team about 20 feet apart. One side had the ball, and they would throw the ball together to the other side. If everyone caught the ball, that would count as one.

Initially, this took nearly 20 minutes for everyone to throw and catch the ball together. It was frustrating. Johnny, don’t throw the ball so fast…Sam, this is how you hold the glove, etc. We had 2-3 coaches, giving fundamental tips. We would do this at the beginning of every practice. 

It took time, but we started to get good at it. Three, four, five, six…ten. The kids would get excited. Every practice, we would try to beat the previous practice record. We added challenges but taking a step back after each catch. By the end of the season, we build trust, and confidence with each other. 

And that same Bad News Bears team, who lost 18-1 in the pre-season, finished 4th in State.

Let’s get back to business.

This same exercise can be applied in business. 

Vision - Your Vision should be clear and repeated frequently. Everyone in the company should be able to say your vision statement and understand your Envisioned Future.

Strategic Initiatives - Great organizations, track strategies on a weekly basis.

Outcomes - You track and reward leading indicators, as well as, lagging indicators.

When we work with companies, to develop these fundamentals, we create championship teams.

(Picture: Winning, 2013)