A Case of the Management Yips

Feeling off your game?  People letting you know that you are?  Maybe it’s time to change things up.

One of the great realities of any mental game is the potential for the mind to short circuit it.

In golf, the emergence of mental short circuits that lead otherwise great golfers to make awful mistakes is known as the yips.

Some believe that at this very moment, Tiger Woods is suffering from the yips.  Many aging professional athletes resort to intensive therapy to avoid the yips.

The yips, to put it bluntly, stink.

If you want to see how bad the yips can be, you need look no further than former major league catcher Mackey Sasser.

I’ll link to a fascinating video by ESPN as a part of its 30 for 30 shorts series that illustrates in gory detail the way Sasser’s mind was rewired through a specific traumatic impact.

Here’s a link to the video.

Sasser, a catcher for the New York Mets organization, lost the ability to smoothly toss the ball back to the pitcher.

His was a colossal case of the yips.

The question

Have you ever witnessed a manager who is off their game?  Perhaps they used to be an engaging and warm leader. But, after years of constant delivery and pressure, they have deteriorated into a shell of their former self.  Perhaps, like Mackey Sasser, they have undergone a severe psychological stress that helped surface severe issues that were hiding under their former leadership profile.

Is it possible to get a case of the yips in business?

I think so.  And here’s why:  Like any other mental pursuit, working with and leading people takes energy, focus, and drive.  No, I won’t say that the average manager needs the mental acuity of the average professional golfer.  Still, if the mind of a pro golfer–used to repeating actions with extreme precision for year after year–can be completely tripped by the yips; then so can a manager’s.

The manager can go from being a great listener to being a constant critic.  He might go from being a a thoughtful problem solver to being a problem finder and complainer.

He might go from developing people to driving them away.

Sure, it’s possible that our formerly effective manager has gone off the deep end.  Or, it’s possible he has a case of the management yips.

So what? 

I bring this up for one reason, and I’ll write more on this at another time.  When a leader loses his way, he has to make a change. In golf, many a case of the yips is dealt with by creating distance from prior habits.  For instance, right handed golfers often actually start to putt left handed.  In a sort of ironic twist, they jump so far out of their old system that they relieve the hitches and glitches that come with the yips.

So, if you are a manager who has perhaps gotten off your game even though your processes, habits, and disciplines haven’t changed, consider jumping out of your system.  Change things up.  Look for fresh air, do meetings standing up. Stop taking calls in your office.

You might have a case of the management yips.   And, like so many other pressure and stress induced bad behaviors, the only way out is through.