Super Bowl + Lessons On High-Performing Teams

The Kick-Off is only a few hour’s away preceded by The Coin Toss and all sorts of other traditions leading up to Super Bowl – The World’s Largest Single Sporting Event. It’s all the excitement of 5 months of intense matches between 32 teams consisting of some of the highest paid athletes in the world. It is also a study of high performing teams and what it takes to create them. So, I thought as I am waiting for this big event I wanted to share a few thoughts on that. 

Do you need high performers for high performing teams? 

How to create a high-performing team is something all business leaders are trying to find the ultimate recipe for. Although the world of sports is somewhat different from the business world it’s still possible to draw parallels and take learnings from one into the other. Let’s start by taking a look at the two contestants in Super Bowl 50. 

Carolina Panthers 

• Vegas has them as a 5 point favorite to win
• Cam Newton is their undisputed best player and newly winner of NFLs Most Valuable Player award
• Led the league in points scored per game (regular season)
• 2nd in the league in rushing yards per game (regular season)
• 4th in the league defending against the run (yards per game, regular season) 

Denver Broncos

• The underdog
• Didn’t take home a single award at the NFL Honors Show (unless you count winning assistant coach of the year)
• Led the league in total defense per game (yards per game, regular season)
• Led the league in passing defense per game (yards per game, regular season
• 3rd in the league in rushing defense per game (yards per game, regular season)

So what are the team or should I say high performing team takeaways from all these stats? It’s the best offense vs. the best defense but more interestingly a team with the most valuable player vs. a team with no top performers. Sure you can call DeMarcus Ware, Von Miller, Peyton Manning etc. for top performers yet none of them took home any awards. They actually didn’t have anyone coming even close (again not counting Wade Philips their assistant coach). Another interesting fact about the matchup is that typically when the top two teams in opposing categories meet (offense vs. defense) it will be the other side of the equation that wins i.e. Denver’s offense vs. Carolina’s defense. 

So tell me what to look for to build my high performing team? 

So what do you need to look for when you watch the game later? Building upon above takeaways this is what you should focus. 

• Does having the best player i.e. the highest performer on your team win it for you?
• You’re never stronger than your weakest link so who plays better Denver’s offense or Carolina’s defense?
• Do you need the best performers to have the best team i.e. can a team without the best performers beat the most valuable player?

Above are probably not a full list of everything you can take away from the game but they are certainly some of the main ones. Now as to who will actually win the game I guess it will follow the old wording “Offense sells tickets but defense wins you championships” so it would go against your bookie but be the opposite story for Denver comparing to Super Bowl 48 where they were in a similar situation as Carolina today but got beaten up and kicked around by the Seahawks. 

Who’s your pick and what lessons do you think we can learn from Super Bowl 50 when trying to build a high performing team? As always let me know what you think about the post by liking, commenting and sharing. For more posts about teambuilding and leadership lessons please continue reading below. 

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Anders Liu-Lindberg is the Regional Finance Business Partner for Maersk Line North Europe and is working with the transformation of Finance and business on a daily basis. Anders has participated in several transformation processes amongst others helping Maersk Drilling to go Beyond Budgeting and transformed a finance team from Bean-counters to Business Partners. He would love the chance to collaborate with you on your own transformation processes to help you stay out of disruption. If you are looking for more advice on how to get the most of LinkedIn Anders also has a few tips to share as well as if you want help in your job search. Don’t be shy! Let’s get in touch and start helping each other.