Talented players on your team may certainly lead to winning games, gaining leads, closing deals and having your clients coming back for more. However, if your organization is relying on isolated talented players you may be running a risky operation. If you think of winning a few games as a short term gain and winning a championship as a long term gain, you will see shortly how individual un-united talents creates a scattered organization that is in jeopardy. With any one key talent leaving your team for whatever reason you may not be able to fill the void. Why? Because most companies do a handover of accounts, it is next to impossible to do a handover of knowledge let alone a handover of mindset. This happens so often in sports; an entire team sits back and watches one key talented player win for them. Only when that key player is gone do you see the other players step up their game which is evidence that they were playing small or underperforming.
In our corporate P.O.W.E.R House Team Building workshops, we recognize that many of the decisions, key functions and even daily activities are being influenced by as little as one key talent. There are several fundamental issues here. Firstly, the talent runs the risk of being burnt-out, and may even develop a feeling of resentment for calling all the shots and might lose their inspiration. This means you risk losing the championship because they may move on long before you win the championship. Another reason they may move on is to find something more focused on their primary skillset. Professionals have a need to be doing the things they are talented at and love doing most; otherwise sooner or later they feel unfulfilled.
Secondly, to win a championship you need to tap into the full power of your team. Teamwork requires the empowerment of all key players, the investment in all key players. If each player is not putting in 100% boredom can set in, which may also mean that players that are bored may not be on the field during the championship game. When you give your talented key players a focus on what they are best at and what they enjoy best you keep them engaged and feeling appreciated. When you give the rest of the team a chance to exercise their skills, you give them a chance to bring their talents to life. This will result in an environment that I can best describe as one that is a ‘culture of appreciation’. All players on the team have a talent, they all need to be nurtured in order to play at their best and evolve on a day-by-day basis.
When you put this team into a room you transfer not just knowledge but one of the greatest competitive advantages – attitude or mindset. When you are doing what you love you have different insights and see opportunities others don’t. With your entire team developing an attitude of champions you stabilize your organization. It is this culture of appreciation – this transfer of attitude – that wins not only games but championships.