An Ode to the Trusted Advisor
Why we strive to be one, and many working within a pro team should as well
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Pro sports is about the best in the world competing at the highest level.
This is obvious when it comes to the athletes we see on TV, but it is also true when referring to the coaches, trainers, executives, and analysts that don’t make their way to the stat sheet.
Every person inside an organization effects winning.
And since only a few do it directly, everyone else is, one way or another, working behind the scenes to help the athlete help their team win.
Everyone else is, one way or another, an advisor.
Becoming a Trusted Advisor
MLB clubs and NBA franchises have hundreds of employees. Yet, once the game starts, only the athletes are front and center.
The rest of the organization- from coaches developing gameplans, to S&C staff improving training, to analysts pouring over data- is working behinds the scenes on their niche, creating a chain reaction that leads to better on-court performance.
For those groups, expertise is necessary, but it’s not sufficient.
In a world where competition is high, and advice seemingly comes from everywhere, trust is equally as important.
In David Maister’s book, plainly titled the Trusted Advisor, he highlights 3 elements of trust: integrity, helping others find the answer, and building strong relationships.
While these elements have plenty of overlap, they each serve a distinct purpose.
Integrity. Trusted advisors help others excel, which can only be done once the people they work with know they have their best interest at heart. And this only happens if they are honest and upfront at every touchpoint.
Helping Others Find the Answer. The job of a trusted advisor is to empower those they serve and help them expand their impact. Not only will this yield the best short term outcomes, but it will snowball into more long-term impact for both the advisor and advisee.
Building Strong Relationships. This is the byproduct of 1) integrity and 2) helping others, each compounding over time. Careers are long. The more people think of someone as a trusted advisor, the more they are one.
The Trusted Advisor Playbook
Once we agree the clearest path to high impact is reaching trusted advisor status, the next question is “how do we achieve it?”.
Below are 4 principles that make a great trusted advisor, along with 1) how Reboot Motion embodies these principles and 2) how anyone inside a pro organization can do the same.
Service First
The job of a trusted advisor is to help others succeed. In order to execute on this goal, you need to 1) have a point of view and 2) make it known, so your audience knows how you will make their lives better.
Sean Johnson, Founder and CEO of Hire Madison, breaks down 4 key elements to creating your point of view.
The Reboot Example:
Who: We help large organizations excel in biomechanics at scale. Getting even narrower, our ideal client profile (ICP) is a pro team or league, and within that a data-heavy AGM or Director of R&D.
What: We believe movement analysis is the next big thing in sports, just as advanced analytics was twenty years ago. We believe advancements in computer vision will lead to an explosion of data, and the winners of the biomechanics revolution will be those who can best turn mountains of data into actionable takeaways. And we believe the heroes of the revolution will be forward thinking analysts, executives, and coaches…and that we will play a supporting role.
Why: We exist to empower pro teams, leagues, and other large organizations to utilize movement data to innovate.
How: We accomplish all of the above by being true partners.
The Internal Advisor Example:
Anyone can go through this exercise for themselves. Who do you serve? What do you believe? Make sure your audience know what drives you to come to work every day.
Do What You Say. Every Time.
People think gaining influence is about coming up with a groundbreaking takeaway. They’re wrong.
The single best way to advance in a career, earn trust, or gain influence is to 1) do the simple things 2) do them right and 3) do it every time.
The Reboot Example:
A core value-add for our MLB partners is our ability to process every pitch and every swing from every game. This includes cleaning data, turning it into joint angles and metrics, and making sure “bad data” never reaches our partners’ systems.
While they may (or may not) appreciate the complexity of what we do, what really matters is that it works…every day…as expected.
The Internal Advisor Example:
Whenever working on a project for a manager, a coach, etc.- be clear about the goals, your estimated time of completion, and the group’s priorities. Once you take on a project or make a promise, follow through must be all but guaranteed.
Always Be Teaching
People don’t become trusted advisors due to a single secret. They become trusted advisors because, time and time again, they prove they are experts.
The Reboot Example:
There are lot of things that make us unique:
We built our own biomechanics processing engine on top of MuJoCo. And we discussed how and why we did it here.
We rely on physics based metrics. We have talked in detail about the advantages of doing so, and we’ve shown how that allows us to build intuitive models, like a Blueprint for Safe(ish) Velocity.
We view every relationship we have as a partnership. And we explained exactly why we think is the best way to do business.
While each one of our partners may give a slightly different explanation as to why they work with us, we believe a large part is knowing they are in good hands.
The Internal Advisor Example:
Your organization hired you for a reason. You have unique viewpoints that can help drive them forward. Make sure that expertise is shared throughout, and make sure you are available to talk with interested parties about how your knowledge can help their career.
In short, giving away your secrets is all about passing the IBM test. Your goal is to create a world where no one ever went wrong trusting you.
Always Be Learning
Trusted advisors are likely experts on a specific topic. But the person they’re advising is a specialist in their own niche. The more you learn about your audience’s specific background, use case, or goals, the better you can serve them.
The Reboot Example:
Every time we talk with an AGM, or a Director of R&D, we are learning from authorities in how to run departments within a pro sports franchise.
This is especially helpful as we enter new verticals.
While there are details about MLB organizations that transfer over to the NBA, many things are quite unique. Accounting for both the similarities and the differences is key to helping us help our partners innovate and drive results.
The Internal Advisor Example:
To repeat- your organization hired you for a reason. But they also hired every coach, every scout, and every decision maker for a reason. They have context you don’t. They have relationships you don’t. They have expertise you don’t.
Getting curious allows you to enter their world, which enables you to deliver the right message to the right person.
What Happens After Becoming A Trusted Advisor
Being a trusted advisor is not a binary outcome. Rather it is a continuous process where you are gain trust, show value, and repeat.
Even for external companies- where is there is an official date when a partnership begins- trust builds over time…and likely starts prior to signatures.
Therefore, it is important not to think of becoming a trusted advisor as a checkbox to mark off, or a step on the way to career advancement.
Rather, becoming a trusted advisor is about realizing you are playing an infinite game.
The whole point is to keep serving others, to keep helping your organization innovate, and to keep growing in your career.
The whole point is to keep playing.