How many times have you heard — or used — sports analogies to describe your business? It’s an easy thing to do, many people have sports clichés ingrained into their everyday dialect. But do we go a little overboard when describing our business as a “good team” comprised of solid teammates producing great teamwork, and on and on?
Perhaps.
But it isn’t because we don’t believe in team spirit — we all do. It’s just that some of us don’t have the teamwork to back up our boasting. Take a look at your team, managers, department heads, group leaders, even the receptionist. Do they all work as a team and share the same goals as everyone else? How do you know if they do? The answer is obvious — maybe too obvious.
All sports teams have meetings, some daily, some between periods, quarters, or at halftime. Some even have them every few minutes (during timeouts). How many meetings does your team have? The number of meetings is not as important as the quality and ideas exchanged at each, but you need to have them in order to get everyone in the same “team” frame of mind.
A lot can be accomplished in a 20-second timeout meeting during a basketball game. How about a five-minute meeting when it’s necessary to get everyone on the same playing field?
No cliché — just a good idea.
