Why Teams Win

Yesterday I was talking with our COO, Michael Metz , and once we finished the business portion of our call, he asked me what I thought about the NCAA tournament and if I had any thoughts on the Final Four. I hadn't given it much thought, but our ensuing conversation swirled in my mind last night and left me excited about the idea of why teams win.

The Final Four this year in the NCAA men's basketball tournament includes Duke, Auburn, Florida, and Houston. I have not seen Florida play. I've watched Houston a little and I think Kelvin Sampson is a great coach. Auburn is my emotional favorite because their assistant coach Ira Bowman is one of my favorite humans. And Duke I watched for the first time all season when they played against Alabama last weekend. What I saw from Duke was remarkable.

Duke had the best talent (biggest, strongest, fastest players) on the court.

Duke's players were also highly skilled, meaning they put their talent to work to develop their footwork, ball handling skills, shooting, passing, and positioning offensively and defensively. You can only learn those skills through repeated effort and by accepting coaching.

Duke's players, even and especially their stars, gave maximum effort. I was really impressed how hard each of them played on defense. It's human nature to be a little lazy. No one wants to give maximum effort every day, on every play. Especially if you are gifted with some talent and skill. It's natural to hold back a little bit and conserve energy, knowing you can "turn it on" at any moment. That's not what I saw from the Duke players. These guys were relentless on every possession.

The other thing that caught my eye was how team oriented Duke appeared. It seemed to me that they didn't care who scored or who got credit. They wanted to win and gave the ball to whomever was open and had the best shot. No one was worried about their own statistics, or how they looked. They just wanted the team to win.

I'm commenting on what I saw with Duke only because that's the game I happened to pay the most attention to this weekend. I'm sure Florida, Auburn and Houston exhibit many of the same characteristics. Whichever of the teams can harness their talent, skill, and effort into playing for and with each other will win this weekend.

And I think the same is true in business. Take a look around your organization. Who are your most talented people? Have they also maximized their skill development? Are they open to coaching? Do they maximize their effort? And, maybe most importantly, do they prioritize their individual success above all else, or the team's success?

Organizations that can build a culture of talented people working hard, lifting each other up, pushing each other towards a common goal where no one is worried about who gets the credit can achieve amazing things.

It's also really hard to do. It starts with talent. Everyone is good at something. No one is good at everything. Step 1 is, as Jim Collins described in his book Good to Great, Get the Right People on the Bus:

The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. They said, in essence, “Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.” - Jim Collins, Good to Great

In my mind, getting the wrong people off the bus is just as important as getting the right people on the bus. Highly talented people don't want to work with selfish, egotistical jerks. Your culture is defined by the worst behavior you tolerate. What are you tolerating? Why are you tolerating it?

Division I college basketball today is in a period of incredible transition. Amateur athletics are over. Players can get paid as much as the market will bear, and they can leave a school any time they want with no penalty. How are you going to get a talented 18 year old who's getting paid millions per year to play hard and care about the team and his teammates? I have no idea, either, which is part of what struck me about what I saw from Duke. These guys were not just talented and skilled, but they also played hard AND put the team ahead of themselves. That's a potent recipe for success.

Have you been part of great teams? What was it like? How does that experience differ from lower performing teams that you've been on? What can you do today to make your current team better?