The Ducks are Doing It. Why Can’t We?

On the second morning of our ECLP Conference in Shanghai, back in the states, the U.S. College Football Championship was held between the #1 ranked Auburn Tigers and the #2 ranked Oregon Ducks. While the outcome, with the Ducks losing in the last few seconds of the game, was hard for Kathleen (a native Oregonian) and Franklin (an avid Ducks fan) to take, we remain huge believers in our speedy Ducks.

We kicked off ECLP Conference two nights before the big game and there was a lot of debate during our coffee breaks about which team, Auburn or Oregon, has the better offense. On one hand, Auburn’s offense has largely been recognized for the leadership of their dynamic quarterback who won the Heisman trophy (similar to player of the year). On the other hand, Oregon has been recognized for the extremely fast pace at which they play, and for their ability to adapt plays on the fly.

Since GE is looking for ways to become faster and more flexible, it occurred to us that there might be some lessons that we can take from the Duck’s strategy.

Why does the pace of play matter (in football and at GE)?

Typically, coaches choose the next play and then, once the play is chosen, the appropriate players must be sent onto the field and the play must be signaled to them. Because Oregon takes so little time between plays, the coaches from the opposing teams often don’t have time to get fresh players or the right players into the game. As a result, the other teams often tire quickly, get confused, and ultimately make mistakes that the Ducks capitalize on. 

More specifically, the Ducks run 80 plays per game compared to the average of 68, and take 21 seconds per play, compared to the average of 26 seconds. The Ducks may make mistakes, but they don’t look back.  They focus on the opportunity presented by the next play, and it pays off… This season, it has taken the Ducks a little over four minutes to score a touchdown, compared to the nine minutes it has taken an average team to score.   

In his keynote speech during the first morning of Conference, Steve Liguori, our Executive Director of Global Marketing, stressed the importance of GE taking a similar approach in its businesses. He highlighted the benefit of getting into the market and learning from experience through quick prototyping and piloting of new ideas. He also spoke about our plan to double down on our investment in Research & Development, and how ECLPs will play a big role in launching these pilots, enabling us get to market faster and with better ideas than our competitors.   

So, how do the Ducks do it?
Through conditioning, great planning, and clear communication.

1) Conditioning – they practice at a faster speed than almost any other team – at game speed. They don’t stop between each play to correct player’s mistakes… Any major issues are addressed later when practice film is reviewed.

This poses an interesting question: are we spending too much time dwelling on our own mistakes? Perhaps the amount of time we spend reflecting should be reduced so that we can move forward, try something new, and see if that works better.

2) Planning – the Ducks strategize for speed. Everything they do is designed to reduce the time between receiving the ball and scoring. They employ tactics that may only save seconds, but those seconds add up after running 80 plays by the end of the game. In addition, they only have about 20 scripted plays compared to the 40 or so of the average team. However, they do allow the quarterback make calls on the fly to run variations of the plays. The result is a simple, but flexible playbook.

This gives us something to consider as we think about the strategies we employ on program. It implies that we don’t always need to completely overhaul a strategy…perhaps tinkering and perfecting an old strategy on the fly may work better in certain cases.

3) Communication – The Ducks send plays onto the field via big poster boards that have familiar images on them instead of having a player run the plays onto the field, or using potentially confusing hand signals. Examples of the images are: the Burger King character, ESPN anchors, a map of New Hampshire, and the gopher from the movie Caddyshack; all have meanings and associations, indicating things like formations and snap counts (e.g. Burger King fast food = fast play, ESPN anchors = big, highlight play). This visual approach saves time and improves the clarity of the message.

As leaders of committees and teams, we struggle constantly to engage our group members. Could we get more people excited about the task at hand if we made our communications more personal and fun?

While the Ducks laser focus on speed is admirable and their results have been impressive, Auburn’s offense has been almost as potent – during the season they ranked 6th in average points scored, and 3rd in the time it took them to score. In the end, even though it broke our hearts that the Ducks didn’t win, the game made one thing clear: speed is the common denominator among the two best teams in college football.

So, the only question to answer now is, “if it works on the football field, why can’t it work in the field of business?”

Posted by Kathleen & Franklin