Running your company like a sports team

For many of us, sports have often been a reference point for teamwork, perseverance, and achievement. Whether it’s the last-minute penalty, slam dunk finish, or the crazy conversion kick, individual success in sports is always partially attributed to the team. Those dramatic moments become legendary in our minds, if you don’t believe it just watch below! 

Thinking about a startup team doesn’t need to be any different. Like a sports team, there are players: your employees. Like a sports team, you have a common goal: to grow the company. And like a sports team, there are values shared: teamwork, openness, grit, and so on. 

 Most importantly, your startup team is setting ‘culture’ for everyone new or existing in the company. Like a sports team’s reputation being defined by previous teams, results, and supporters, your team needs to espouse the values that make your company an awesome place to be, regardless of topline performance. 

 So what exactly is culture? Jeff Lawson of Twilio defines it as “Culture is the collection of people making decisions every day. Thousands of decisions are made every day. Culture is how you, as say a leader of the company, is confident that every one of those decisions is the right one.”

 Cultural fit is a relatively new concept in hiring and team building. Startups and larger organizations have always had cultures in place, but never proactively promoted that culture to their team or tried to shape it like a coach would for a sports team. In fact, many companies still just hire purely based on resumes without any regard for cultural fit.

 Companies are beginning to realize just how important culture is to their ability to grow, adapt, react, and thrive. Just like a sports team, a balance needs to be found between top talent with limited cultural fit and emerging talent that fits culture better but can be trained to excellence.  

Startup teams aren’t always families 

Many startups’ employer branding will trumpet how their team behaves like a family. They do everything together, care for one another, and work as a unit. True that this sounds great on paper, but unmanaged it can actually be fraught with peril for a company.

 Let’s start with the obvious positives. A familial workplace atmosphere means your teammates are compassionate and understanding, can empathize with each other’s feelings, promote fairness, and are protective of team interests. This creates an environment where workers feel appreciated and looked after, which can make for a very attractive workplace.

 On the downside, families are not well known for their ability to adapt rapidly, focus on execution, and address underperformance. Due to strong familial ties, members of the team will protect one another at all costs even if morale, performance, or growth is being affected. This type of unconditional support can be detrimental in the long run if a startup team leader doesn’t openly confront the issue quickly.

 Tolerating poor results or unacceptable behavior doesn’t square up with operating high-performing teams in a fast-paced, competitive environment. That’s why emulating a family isn’t ideal for your startup’s culture.

Enter the sports team culture

The key difference between a family and a sports team? Sports teams are built around a singular purpose: to win. Every player on the team knows this goal before the very first practice session, and this decision defines every strategy used by the coach & players.

 “For a group of individuals to become a ‘team,’ a common purpose must first be established. This limits ambiguity regarding what the team is looking to achieve” argues Warrick Wood in Psychology Today. “It is also interesting to note that when teams have such a ‘performance focus’, they often perform better due to enhanced focus, appropriate levels of anxiety, and greater enjoyment.”

 Unlike families, the bonds that tie together members of a sports team are grounded on a common goal, not unconditionality. This creates a different type of camaraderie and belonging, which does not compromise the overall aim of success. Supplementary goals like team wellbeing, happiness, etc are framed within this core goal.

 Likewise, positions with a sports team need to be earned— no player is born into the Ballon D’Or or Olympic Gold. If someone better for the job is available, a team won’t hesitate to upgrade the position. An effective coach (or startup founder) will openly try to train their existing team member before resorting to this.

 In a top sports team, every player has skills that contribute to the greater whole. The goalkeeper should not have the same skillset as the striker. Their roles and purposes should be clear. In this way, the team can align interests and not allow individual self-interest to override their goal.

With the ups and downs of startup life similar to those highs and lows of sport, a team leader or founder should also deploy this competitive spirit. Having a team with clear roles, shared values, and a thirst for success will ensure growth for the company and satisfaction at work.   

 Reed Hastings of Netflix summarises sports teams as “ultimately...about performance, unlike a family, which is really about unconditional love. Even if your brother does something awful and goes to jail, your love doesn’t stop.”

Adopting the sports mindset at your startup 

Despite what the picture above makes you think, getting the rights sports-inspired culture at your startup isn’t just a case of adding equipment around the office like a table tennis table. ALAS!

 “It’s best to start thinking about [your culture] when your team is small, and the culture is still malleable. A company’s culture cements very quickly,” says LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. “So as you grow, you have to be very careful about what it is you’re scaling. You can get away with a lot more when your staff is teeny—say, two or three people. To succeed as you scale, you have to leverage every person in the organization. And to do that, you have to be very intentional about how you craft the culture.”

 Don’t worry if you think you’re too late. The reality is a sports-style culture can be kickstarted at any time using champions of culture in your team. Focus on shared values, boosting performance, and opening up communication as starting points.

 Here are a few key ways you can start building your very own League winning startup team for scale:

 Onboarding is training

As a team leader, you’re the coach. When a new player joins your team, make sure they begin aligning to your culture from Day 1. Give them materials to digest, guide them in their first week at the company, arrange a few team-wide activities. These will help the new hire to understand your team’s backgrounds, operating styles, and goals. 

 Communicate objectives & feedback

Make time to talk to your team members 1-on-1 to check on their performance, get feedback on their own self-assessment, and align on the next steps. Even the top performers in your team will want to know they are on track, and this can help refresh people’s motivations from time to time.

Get people in the right positions

This might sound obvious if you’ve hired a skill set for a specific role but make sure to get your new hire on projects where they will thrive. Even for your team members who have been around for longer, remember to check they are fulfilled with their current scheme of work.

Don’t confuse success with great execution

Sometimes there are great results even when people don’t follow the project plan. While people occasionally should feel empowered to change things up as their instinct tells them, a team can only maintain success when it knows what the other members are doing and what the expected results should be. Even a major win can be a learning opportunity.

Original article: culturebuilders.info