I have been working over recent months in various teams on contracts. One stands out because it clearly has all the best people. You ask a question or seek some input and it is understood, thought about and responded to quickly and comprehensively. This is because the “A Team” is on board. By contrast on another project the wrong documents are used, meetings never happen and developing any schedules is really hard work.
If I was asked to give one general piece of advice to a potential customer for an outsourcing contract it would be to make sure that the A team and not the B team is properly engaged in the procurement negotiation and in the service implementation and delivery. Then even if there are issues, and there often can be with complex services, you can be sure they will be resolved if at all possible.
Jim Collins in Good to Great said that you have to get the right people on the bus. Although he was primarily concerned with developing businesses he commented “First who, then what: ‘It’s not just a business principle, it’s a life principle.’” He also said “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”
I also like this article on How to Build an A Team which comments Those who aspire to be successful quickly realize that individual performance isn’t usually enough. Only a team of committed individuals can accomplish great things. So a leader’s job turns to finding, selecting, and cultivating an amazing team.
The intriguing thing about teams is that players in the B team can be developed so they become able to be the A team. For several years I managed my son’s football team which was the C team in their age group for a club playing in a local league. When we started we had players who were overweight, players who couldn’t run, one who couldn’t breathe properly and a goalkeeper whose mother stood by the goal posts to comfort him as the goals flowed in. For a year we didn’t win a game, but then we trained harder at a passing game, discovered a winger who eventually became a county sprinter (he just ran past all of the opposition and delivered the ball into the penalty area – where we might or might not score) and recruited a few key players. We started winning and became a successful if not title winning team.
As Henry Ford said “Coming Together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
This Harvard Business School Article The Tough Work of Turning Around a Teamgives perhaps a more professional view on the challenges of improving a team in the NFL.
Ultimately it is about getting the right people motivated to do the right things. Andrew Carnegie the 19thcentury Scottish-American industrialist, business magnate, and philanthropist sums this topic up well Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.
If I was asked to give one general piece of advice to a potential customer for an outsourcing contract it would be to make sure that the A team and not the B team is properly engaged in the procurement negotiation and in the service implementation and delivery. Then even if there are issues, and there often can be with complex services, you can be sure they will be resolved if at all possible.
Jim Collins in Good to Great said that you have to get the right people on the bus. Although he was primarily concerned with developing businesses he commented “First who, then what: ‘It’s not just a business principle, it’s a life principle.’” He also said “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”
I also like this article on How to Build an A Team which comments Those who aspire to be successful quickly realize that individual performance isn’t usually enough. Only a team of committed individuals can accomplish great things. So a leader’s job turns to finding, selecting, and cultivating an amazing team.
The intriguing thing about teams is that players in the B team can be developed so they become able to be the A team. For several years I managed my son’s football team which was the C team in their age group for a club playing in a local league. When we started we had players who were overweight, players who couldn’t run, one who couldn’t breathe properly and a goalkeeper whose mother stood by the goal posts to comfort him as the goals flowed in. For a year we didn’t win a game, but then we trained harder at a passing game, discovered a winger who eventually became a county sprinter (he just ran past all of the opposition and delivered the ball into the penalty area – where we might or might not score) and recruited a few key players. We started winning and became a successful if not title winning team.
As Henry Ford said “Coming Together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
This Harvard Business School Article The Tough Work of Turning Around a Teamgives perhaps a more professional view on the challenges of improving a team in the NFL.
Ultimately it is about getting the right people motivated to do the right things. Andrew Carnegie the 19thcentury Scottish-American industrialist, business magnate, and philanthropist sums this topic up well Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.
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