BaskITball — a team sport
“All the successful teams I’ve ever seen have 3 characteristics: They play unselfish, they play together, and they play hard” — Larry Brown
One of my biggest passions is basketball. Lately I’ve noticed that what makes me passionate about this sport is very similar to the reasons I am passionate at work. At Sitewards we believe that best results are created if people are enabled to follow their passion, enjoy their profession and jointly work together. This is what this post is about!
The beauty of the game!
Basketball is a fast, energizing and beautiful game. Did you ever see Vince Carters performance in the 2001 NBA Dunk Contest? Did you ever watch Lebron James chasing down a layup and block it? Those players make it look like no big effort is needed. In fact they’ve spend hours, days and years of work in gyms in order to make it look that flawlessly. Watching the Dallas Mavericks win a championship was even more fun; not only the individuals have spent tons of time to improve but the team had invested a lot of effort in order to let their dream become reality.
Just hitting a button and watching a feature go live is one beautiful thing I’ve seen at Sitewards. It takes a lot of time and passion to get there. It’s also fun for others to watch it or enjoy scrolling the newly build online shop, which is the result of a hard-working team. There are way more examples for basketball as well as for IT. Watching individuals and teams unfold and produce great results is what I consider as the beauty of the game!
Work hard and celebrate succees!
One of the best feelings is the sound which is produced if the ball goes through the net, people refer to it as “swoosh”. If you hear/see that your team has just scored a basket some kind of celebration will happen for sure. Maybe it was “just” a two-pointer, maybe it was a three-pointer or the winning buzzer beater in game 7 of the NBA finals. No matter what it was there will be some kind of cheering: applause, enthusiastic screaming or a wild party.
One of the best feelings in IT is to release something you’ve worked on. Maybe it was “just” a change of a color of a button, maybe it was a car configurator or a six month lasting relaunch project, which just went live. Somehow there is a tendency to forget to cheer each other and celebrate. Of course there is no need for a wild party after changing the color of a button but a “thank you, well done” is not expensive. Working hard is important but connecting the results to a positive feeling is crucial to be motivated to move on.
Never give up!
A team is formed by hard work and failure. Actually I believe that failure is more beneficial for a team than success. It is the bad times where people have the chance to bond, show up and learn. Afterwards success will kind of come automatically but only if people don’t give up and keep working together.
Leadership is key!
Whenever teammates of Kobe Bryant went to practice — no matter how early — Kobe was already there. Showing that he is willing to do whatever it takes to win! At least one role model is needed in a team, who is able to show what it takes to succeed. A leader who understands that leadership does not mean having a certain amount of power but having the ability to empower others. As a basketball coach or leader at a company you will notice that empowering people is way more efficient than telling them what to do and enforcing through the power you might think you have.
The team is the star!
Basketball is played 5 on 5. Every team has players with different sizes, weights, strengths, skills, mindsets and weaknesses. None of the players is able to win a game on his own. Of course there are those so called “star players” but this more a media produced hype than some kind of superpower. Just putting 5 people on a court does not make them a team. First of all a mixture of different characters is needed. I’ve talked about leaders already but having a guy, who is for example especially good at rebounding is as important. This is part of the game, no rebounds, no victory. Having someone in an IT team who knows or is eager to learn everything for example about deployments is crucial. There are also more people sitting on the bench when the game is underway. They are as important to your team because they fulfill a specific role. For example defending the lead in the last quarter with some extra power they have left in their tank because they took a rest during the first three quarters. In IT there are also those kind of role players you need to utilize in specific situations. Finding the right mixture of people and in addition letting them bond takes a lot of patience, time and needs tons of communication.
Set the stage for the players!
The higher the level one plays basketball the more focus is needed to perform. Imagine Kobe would have to bring his water bottles to every training session or Lebron cleaning his jersey after every game. This would block them to focus on their profession and passion for playing basketball. As a company it is important to frequently check if the people have everything they need to focus on their work. Whatever it may be (good wifi connection, a proper computer, drinks, enough holidays, …) if it is possible, get it. If man power is missing in order to organize all that, hiring some kind of “feel good manager” should be considered. This will pay off quickly. The higher the level you want to play, they more you need to invest in setting the stage. As a side effect this will also attract other high-performing players/employees.
Setting a target!
This might sound easy to do but in fact it isn’t. One might think that for Basketball it is “winning the championship”. In fact there are a lot of teams, where this target is far beyond what they are able to achieve. So setting an ambitious target which is possible to reach is important so people have some motivation. This could be “winning more games than losing”. This is also very true for companies and also very tough to come up with something everyone is motivated by because people are very different. You need to find the passion they share to be able to trigger this. In Basketball this is easier because the shared passion is the love for the game.
Offense wins games, defense wins championships!
Now — most important — a team can consist of players with great skills, you can give them everything they need, make sure they can bond as a team but if the mindset in the organization is not right, they will not succeed! The best basketball teams can perform on both ends — offense and defense. Both ends need a lot of skills but defending demands some skills, which need to be developed and need an unselfishness mindset: Anticipate what is happening on the court, be pro-active, communicate and play together. No one can defend 5 people at once and no one can build a 500 man day project within half a year on its own.
I am very pleased to be part of a great basketball team — not yet NBA level but trying our best to get there (Go SC Riedberg Go) — as well as of a great company. My passion about forming teams, setting the stage for people to unfold, being part of the story and watching the magic of teams unfold is what pushes me to never give up and work hard. Looking forward to win some championships with my teammates at SC Riedberg and Sitewards!
