As people entered a weekend webinar, the subject of cricket came up – naturally. I assumed India were ahead in their Test with England, only to learn it was tied.

(A small but instant reminder: assumptions don’t make good captains.)

As the session progressed, and we spoke of leading teams – specifically the criticality of feedback in enabling growth – the analogy of the over came to mind.

There are six balls in an over.

Think of your team member as the bowler. They might deliver five good balls – and one might be poor.

Which Delivery Do You Focus On?

Are you the kind of captain who quietly expects consistency and calls out only the mistake? Or do you pause to acknowledge strong deliveries, reinforcing confidence and skill? Perhaps you blend praise and pointers – or leave it to the player to reflect alone.

For you, do any of these approaches seem better than others? Some may seem clearly better – until you consider context?

The team member’s feedback preferences, the situation the team is in, the relationship and trust between captain and player, the criticality of that one ball, and the timing and setting available for the feedback to be shared.

Adding to this complexity is one of leadership’s greatest challenges: All these factors are dynamic.

Lessons for Leaders?

Beware the context – and mix up your own delivery accordingly.

If this is an annual appraisal, be careful to weigh each ball equally (assuming each ball – or KPI – is roughly equal) and not focus exclusively on the one poor ball, or indeed only the five good balls.

If your team member has consistently delivered the same type of poor ball throughout the quarter, or half-year – and in spite of constructive, supportive feedback – then you may want to avoid involving them in future such deliveries and focus their energies exclusively on the five strong areas.

And perhaps revisit your role in the situation.

If you realize you’ve consistently avoided providing feedback for the period under review, you might want to seek feedback for your own growth in this area.

Finally, ask yourself if you are putting that team member into bowl at the most opportune time – both for their growth and for the short- and long-term performance of the team – or are you setting them up for underperformance?

Leadership, like cricket, is a game of moments. A single ball – well handled – can boost the whole innings.