Catching and Passing
In rugby, a successful pass involves two people and two actions. The two people are the passer and the catcher. The two actions are a sympathetic pass and a safe catch. Unless both are ready, willing and able there is no pass. That’s pretty obvious I guess. Yet so many interactions at work miss one or the other.
If the pass is too far in front of the catcher, the catcher will knock it on or not reach the ball at all. The same goes for a pass that’s too far behind the catcher, or one that’s too high, too low, too hard, too soft etc.. The pass needs to be just right, like Baby Bear’s chair in Goldilocks.
If the catcher is facing the wrong way and not looking towards the passer, the pass won’t reach their hands safely. The same goes if the catcher is too far in front of the passer, or too far behind them. It also goes if their hands are too rigid or too loose. The catch needs to be just right, like Baby Bear’s bed in Goldilocks.
A good pass isn’t enough
However good the pass is, the catch also needs to be good enough. It’s a two people, two action process.
There’s no such thing as a bad pass
This is a deliberatiely misleading heading. Bad passes do happen. They happen all the time. In rugby there are too many unsuccessful ‘no-look’ passes. But bad catches happen too. However great the act of passing is, if the catcher isn’t paying attention or isn’t in the right place to receive it, the ball won’t go to hand.
Equally, a well-placed and focused catcher won’t take the pass if the ball is sent high and wild. In other words, it takes two to tango.
Bad passes at work
Think of all the handovers that go on inside your organisation. There will be a pretty long list. One which is probably longer than you think. Handovers include dealing with the different stages of a manufacturing process, or from sales to after-sales. Handovers often happen within project work. Then there’s covering for holiday and sickness absence, or if someone’s popped out for lunch. It also includes reapportioning someone’s work on an exit or a retirement. On top of that there’s dealing with complaints, grievances and disciplinary procedures, which all involves multiple stages. It’s a long list.
Do you coach, train or plan for your handover situations? If not, how often are your people dropping the ball?
The Retirement Pass
A key area to work on is retirement planning. Do you reward both a good handover pass from the person retiring? Do you reward the replacement who takes a good handover catch and runs with it?
Too many people retire without helping whoever’s next to get started. Too many of them aren’t even asked to help.
Retiring staff members aren’t asked to pass on their wisdom often enough. So, it walks straight out of the building and is lost. That’s got be worth a pass and catch. Surely?