A Tale of Two Coaches

It seems almost magical when a great team comes together and extraordinary results occur. How does this magic occur? Is there a process that will increase the likelihood of such an outcome? I think there is. Consider two similar high school baseball teams. Both have a player roster of those who “made the cut” at tryouts. However, there are subtle differences between the teams, primarily based on how their respective coaches decided who would get to play for them. Both coaches felt the need to build a winning team as well as pressure to please parents who had invested heavily in the athletic futures of their sons. The first coach had a sleepless night of decision making wherein he selected the young men to fill key positions on the team, and who possessed the attitude, work ethic, and attributes needed to build a solid team culture. Some were experienced in the game, having played many years, but there were a few that he “just had a feeling about.” The second coach adopted a less deliberative approach. He had heard the voices of parents who expected their sons to make the team, and they were his friends and neighbors. Although these boys were outperformed by others in tryouts, he opted to put most on the team. His rationale was simple: I don’t need the headaches of dealing with parents–and I’m a good enough coach to get their sons to play well. Thus, some of the best players were cut, never to play baseball again. Back to the similarities between these two coaches… They both had to cut young men who had tried out, leaving disappointed boys at both high schools. The day after the rosters were posted, both coaches got an earful from several parents. As a lifelong baseball fan and coach, as well as the father and grandfather of four high school baseball players, I’ve seen this scenario play out numerous times. And I’ve seen it in virtually every sport and in school plays, etc. There is almost always an “insider’s track” regarding who makes the teams. So, there are two questions: (1) which coach and team performed best?--and (2) what in the heck does this have to do with business? The answer to the first question is pretty simple. The first coach who based his selections on merits, rather than familiarity and insider connections had a very successful season; no state championship, but he built a cohesive team who enjoyed each other and continuously improved. The second coach’s team never fully jelled; there was an undercurrent of resentment and uneasiness that lasted all through the season. Their performance was mediocre. Regarding the second question, the answer is that this scenario plays out far too often in the formation of enterprise leadership teams. Rather than carefully assessing requirements, roles and positions for key players, founders and CEOs make their selections based on “who they know” from their friends and family. This is almost always a prescription that puts a linebacker at the shortstop position, or as the saying goes, “a square peg in a round hole.” As a coach of CEOs and entrepreneurial leaders, I have often asked if it is better to be deliberative or decisive. The majority of my clients have opted for decisiveness, and that is indeed important. But when it comes to selecting key players for your leadership team, you need to be like the first high school baseball coach. You need to be deliberative, to endure the sleepless nights of defining the roles you need to fill, the attributes the right person will need to succeed, their fit with your culture, and the experience and education they need for their essential contribution. Now, this raises an additional question: what if you already have a leadership team with one or more misplaced or marginal contributors? The answer here is almost always gut-wrenching. You must have the courage to make a change! And if that person is a friend or family member, your tendency will be to put off the pain of making that change. But that is a mistake, perhaps even one fatal to your business. Courage with compassion is required–and harmonizing these is not easy. We’re seeing a version of this with layoffs in the Federal Government right now. Wisdom dictates that downsizing is necessary where there is waste, and incompetence must be replaced with strong performers. We must have the courage to make these changes, but we also must recognize that every laid-off employee is a real person who has a family and obligations. Compassion dictates that we take no joy in the necessity of job loss, but courage requires that we do what is necessary. Not everyone at tryouts will make the team, nor stay on it! As a coach to CEOs and other leaders of teams, I must say that a problem prevented is much to be preferred over a problem to be solved. If you take a deliberative approach to building a high performing leadership team, you may well avoid (or at least reduce) the need to make difficult changes in the future.