Negative momentum is very frustrating.
It can occur at work. It can occur at home. When things start to snowball in the negative direction it’s very difficult to stop and get things back on track.
And that might be the most frustrating part…
Negative momentum seems to often come out of nowhere. But really it’s likely been building for a long time. And the true solution is often a long-term effort.
It’s like stopping a speeding train and getting it to go the other direction. Or slowing down a big ocean liner and getting it to go in the other direction.
Yet the negativity often causes people to try grand solutions in search of a quick fix. But this is just more fuel for the fire that keeps things going negatively.
The National Football League
The NFL is viewed as a league of parity. One where just about any team can have a breakout season and go from last to first.
But it really doesn’t happen that way often.
In fact, there are a handful of teams that are perennial winners. And there are just as many, and probably a few more, teams that are perennial losers.
Some say that bad teams do bad team things while good teams do good team things.
When it comes to the bad teams, they often make the same mistakes over and over. Usually those mistakes are made with good intentions. Trying to shock the system and make drastic changes with the goal of turning around the negative momentum.
One team that has been bad for 20+ years is the Washington Redskins. They have built incredible negative momentum in a variety of ways. It might start with poor culture from the top where team leadership plays favorites with certain players, keeps secrets and does shady things within the organization.
They hire new coaches about every 2-3 years. They pay top dollar for free agents, which is risky and often fails for any team that tries it.
Another team that has been a perennial loser is the Cincinnati Bengals. They have built negative momentum in other ways. They have been stable with their coaching staff. They don’t often dip their toe into free agency. But they still have been able to build negative momentum through a few ways. They’ve been prone to bringing on players with questionable character. They have a sparse talent evaluation staff that has seemed to miss on players in the draft more than other teams. And over time the franchise has slowly built a reputation for losing and that’s difficult to break out of.
Sometimes after years of losing you just expect to lose. Even as new team members come in.
NFL Turnaround Stories
I’m a fan of the Green Bay Packers and they had one of the most successful turnarounds in NFL history. They had been great in the 1960s. Then for 20+ years they barely had any winning seasons.
They finally turned it around with a few key changes in 1992. First, they hired Ron Wolf, who had been successful with the Raiders. Then Ron Wolf’s first two moves were to trade for Brett Favre and to hire Mike Holmgren. Then in 1993, he hired Reggie White, probably the most impact free agent signing in NFL history.
But even with these changes, success didn’t happen over night. The team went 9-7 the first three years. It apexed in 1996 with a 13-3 season and a Super Bowl. And the team has pretty much stuck with the winner formula ever since.
It took a handful of years to turn the franchise around. The leaders created a plan and stuck with it even while the team ebbed in the 1994 season. Favre was nearly benched. The team lost its best wide receiver after the season.
One of the keys seemed to be that each leader brought in came from winning backgrounds. They knew what it took to win. They also had something to prove. They also had the patience to stick with the plan while they slowed down the ship and slowly change course.
Final Thoughts
The way to change negative momentum is to identify what is working for those with winning momentum. Then it’s to change the daily habits of what you’re doing or what your team is doing. Then it’s having the patience to see the results even if there are struggles along the way.
When you learn about people or organizations that have changed momentum you often see the leaders reflect on seeing consistent changes. It might not reach the end goal right away. But there will be signs. And with patience, eventually the process of change leads to positive momentum, which is also difficult to stop.
Because when you start building positive momentum, through the right routines, you start doing it without even thinking about it.