Learn From The Detroit Lions: Innovative Strategies Help Your Organization Overcome Distractions

The Detroit Lions reminded us this past Sunday that sometimes you have to confront the distractions impacting your workplace, even if that means you have to get wet and dirty to win.

The Lions took control of the NFC North, beating the rival Green Bay Packers 24-14 in one of the biggest NFL games of the season. The win at legendary Lambeau Field marked the first time the Lions played outside of a dome this season—and Coach Dan Campbell made sure his players were ready for all that Wisconsin might throw at them.

Monitoring the weather reports in the days leading up to the game, Campbell had the Lions practice with wet footballs, using bottles to douse the pigskins. For a team that plays indoors like the Lions, that kind of preparation served them well on game day. As anyone who has ever played in the rain can attest, everything about the ball feels differently as the leather gets wet. The ball is harder to catch when it rains. Quarterbacks have to grip the football differently when they throw in the rain. Kickers and punters feel the extra weight on the ball and have to make adjustments when they boot it down the field or try for a field goal.

“We preached it all week, wet ball drills in practice every day, and man, our guys really did a great job,” Campbell told DetroitLions.com after the game.

The Lions faced an unusual situation, but Campbell thought outside the box and made the adjustments to ensure his players did not get distracted by the conditions. That’s something businesses need to learn as we try to keep outside influences—like playing in the rain—from impacting our performances.

There are always a lot of unexpected factors that can distract companies from focusing on what matters and achieving success. Like Coach Campbell, David Lancefield, a senior partner at Strategy& and a lecturer at the London Business School, offered a unique take on distractions and urged companies to confront them head-on, much the way the Lions did.

“Distractions slow down progress and waste effort,” Lancefield wrote in the Harvard Business Review. “But they can also become the seeds of opportunities.”

Lancefield called on leaders to delve into the distractions, describing them and exploring how they are impacting the workplace. He also stressed that you need to understand the causes of the distractions and use what you find out about them to bolster your strategy and boost your team’s efforts.

“An openness to experimenting, learning, and adapting is an essential characteristic of an effective strategy process,” Lancefield wrote. “However, it’s easy to get distracted by both external and internal developments and opportunities. Avoid the temptation to micromanage and assert control to mitigate this risk. Instead, strengthen your strategic intent, improve individuals’ connections with the strategy, and encourage better discipline, channeling energies into more productive innovation activities.”

By having the players practice with wet footballs, Campbell took control and ensured they weren’t thinking about playing outside for the first time this season. That kind of thinking is one of the reasons why the Lions look like a Super Bowl contender as we reach the midpoint of the NFL season.

After beating the Packers in Green Bay, Campbell said the Lions are ready to play in any element.

“I’m not shocked one bit that we came out here and played pretty good football out in the elements,” Campbell told ESPN. “We’re built for this. And it doesn’t matter and just because we play indoors, it doesn’t matter. We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow. We can play in the rain, play in the mud, that’s just us. We’re built to win.”