Whether you’re an athlete in a team sport, a CEO of a large company or a young entrepreneur starting a business, getting “TEAMWORK” right is critical.
The corporate world can learn a lot from the sporting world and the principles are not hard to follow.
1. You need a great captain/coach. Someone that leads by example. Someone that can make quick decisions and is willing to die by the sword. Someone that stays calm under pressure. Has confidence. Has ethics. And is a people’s person.
2. Everyone in the team must have clearly defined roles. The more specific the better. And just like footy players have hit ups, tackles and disposals, the role must be measureable. Let team members take ownership over their role and make them accountable. And when delegating tasks, be ridiculously specific.
3. Get the team to socialise outside work. You learn so much more about a person away from the office. This casual interaction has the ability to create friendships that are a bit deeper than the typical “workmate relationship”. Athletes always talk about “not letting their teammates down,” and this comes out of friendship.
4. Create a fun and comfortable work environment. Team members have to enjoy coming to work. One of the first things Wayne Bennett did when he went to the St George Illawarra Dragons, was to improve the training facilities. You want your team to be proud of their workspace and take pride in it.
5. Have a clearly defined mission statement that inspires. Every sports team has a mantra. A key set of words that inspire and reminds everyone what they’re striving for.
5. Focus on the process. Sporting teams don’t focus on a premiership. They focus on the process of what they must do each day to achieve a premiership. A salesperson could focus on $1 million in sales, or they could focus on how many phone calls and proposals they’ll need to send out to achieve that $1 million.
6. Communicate. Sporting teams are very candid in their communication. They don’t let things fester. If there is a problem, it’s discussed and solved before it divides a team. The captain/coach needs to be approachable and always have their ear to the ground.
7. Constantly review performance. Sporting teams regularly meet for video analysis to learn from their mistakes and improve performance. They are constantly striving to get better. After a project or business deal, its worth asking “how could we have done that better or what worked and what didn’t.” Don’t go through the motions. Stop once and a while and look at the big picture.
7. Encourage mentoring. Senior athletes love taking younger teammates under the wing. Don’t wait for this to naturally happen. Appoint your senior people to someone. This proactive move works at Australian Olympic team level so it should work for you.
6. Celebrate success. You don’t need to swap shirts, spray champagne and shout a song to the beat of a wheelie bin, but you’ve got to enjoy the wins. If you can’t do this then really what is the point? Celebrating success also has the added benefit of bringing the team closer together so have fun.
