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Senior Correspondent

What does your business, or organization, have in common with an Eleven Time World Series Championship Baseball Club? A club that's won the National League Pennant 19 times and made 26 play-off appearances. What does your business have in common with the St. Louis Cardinals? Not a trick question. It's People, People!  

We exist at The Quality Coach!®"because every business is a people business." People are our passion. Indeed, the people you recruit, select, train, mentor, coach, and develop can make all the difference. When you invest your attention in your people and have systems in place to help them do their best work, the improbable becomes probable, and even extraordinary.

After winning the World Series in 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves with an inexperienced manager and several new players in 2012. Mike Matheny became the youngest manager in Major League Baseball when he was tapped to lead the Cards. Late in 2012, the Cardinals pulled off an improbable come from behind streak to find themselves competing for the National League Pennant. And in 2013, they took it just a little further to compete in the World Series. A bunch of new guys and a new manager simply carried on the Cardinal Tradition in their own winning way.  

While most titles were earned before Matheny's Born On Date, he has added his own special magic to the famous Cardinal Culture, known as The Cardinal Way. Matheny is big on setting priorities, or putting first things first, as Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, put it.

Matheny says his job is about people…about leading, challenging, and encouraging talented players. He says we need an edge to compete.

The acronym EDGES (Educate, Discipline, Goals, Energize and Serving others) is Matheny's way of keeping this at the forefront of his players' minds.

E – Education. Once priorities are set, he advocates continuous education on the most important area/s.

D – Discipline. Matheny says discipline requires sacrifices. This requires becoming clear on what we are willing to do…what we are willing to stay away from to become better, and then practicing discipline.  

G – Goals. SMART goals are key. Specific. Measurable.  Accountability. Review. Timing. Inviting others to help hold you accountable feeds the self-discipline.  

E- Energize. There are many different ways to energize, to motivate. As Leaders, we are responsible to energize ourselves and to assure that we manage our energy so that we impact others in a positive way. Bringing out the best in ourselves and our colleagues contributes immensely to a winning culture.

S- Serving Others. "Our club doesn't go to the World Series if we don't buy into this," Matheny states. He refers to serving others on the field and off the field.

EDGES provides a model to help us all better live up to our potential. Matheny generously shares this winning model in his many speaking engagements.   

Inspired by St. Louis Cardinals' Manager, Mike Matheny, and being true to our own passion to help clients tap into and focus their personal power and the power of their people, we are changing the name of our weekly coaching column to "It's About People."

In past articles, we have offered thoughts intended to inspire our readers to access their personal best and bring out the best in others. This won't change. Our mission is to help you tap into the people power in your organization, hit more home runs and continuously improve your business metrics.    

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