Mike McDaniel had an issue.

The Miami Dolphins coach was looking to add some competitive juice to practice, but knew his music playlists weren’t going to be enough to evoke the fire he wanted.

So, assistant coach Jon Embree came up with an idea.

“Why don’t you have a player every day kind of decide the playlist?” Embree asked.

McDaniel like the thought — and took it a step further.

Now, the player who has the best practice each day sports an orange practice jersey the next, while getting to make any musical selection he wants. 

One of the key rules for the Dolphins is if someone doesn’t like the tunes, he can’t complain. He can only practice harder in hopes of getting to choose the playlist the next day.

“That orange jersey is only the beginning,” linebacker Quinton Bell said.

“I want to continue to stack these days, continue to get better, continue to gain trust with these coaches.”

Why’s the Dolphins’ practice ritual relevant to us?

As summer draws to a close and we return to the field, the office, the classroom, many of us have set ambitious goals for our teams. That typically means we must consistently elicit maximum effort, discipline and enthusiasm to achieve desired results.

We may want to draw from the Dolphins and strive for three particular goals with our own respective teams:

1. Foster a competitive element

On the most obvious level, this entails battles for starting positions or for increased roles within the system. But it may also mean intensifying the competition against ourselves for daily improvement by keeping relevant metrics.

Our short and long-term success will be determined by whether we can productively move ourselves and those we lead beyond our natural comfort zones, stacking days of growth and demonstrating specific improvement over an allotted period of time.

2. Reward great work

High performance without recognition from the leader will eventually chip at morale and commitment levels.

McDaniel and his staff seem to acknowledge this and have taken extra steps to recognize elite effort and intensity.

Giving out a compliment when someone does something right isn’t weak, nor does it undermine our largely authority. It’s frequently a critical boost that makes our team members keep striving.

3. Limit complaining

It’s human nature. At some point or another, we lament our role, the system, our teammates, our circumstances, or virtually anything else that seems to be standing in our way.  

But McDaniel and his staff know that these types of gripes often chip away at the larger culture and identity he wants to establish, so he’s banned complaining about the musical playlists.

If we’re hoping to maximize productivity and achieve the best possible outcome, we must find ways to reduce backtalk and general negativity within our culture.

Ultimately, the key to elevated performance and increased competition levels isn’t always harder drills, tough messaging, or putting in longer hours.

Often, it lies in motivating and incentivizing performance — elevating an already-ambitious standard each passing day.

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