By Jim Mikula, President/CEO
For those of us seeking wisdom about leading teams, who better to ask than Tom Brady! The Harvard Business Review did just that and published, “Tom Brady on the Art of Leading Teammates.” The 7-time Super Bowl champion teamed up with Professor and Dean of Harvard Business School, Dr. Nitin Nohria, to author an insightful article. From the first paragraph, it captured my attention:
“When our society talks about success, we tend to focus on individual success…What can get lost in this way of thinking is that leaders don’t accomplish anything by themselves. In fact, nothing of significance in life is achieved alone. To do great things, we rely on teammates. And to win, team leaders must find ways to draw the best physical, mental, and emotional performance from the players working with them.”
Running a small or micro business puts the owner into the roles of leader, manager and worker. In this situation it is easy to settle on an opinion that success is due to the owner. Certainly, a sizable portion of any business success is likely due to the owner’s ideas, dedication, and many times just plain grit. Yet, having a sustainably successful business generally requires a group of individuals that function as a cohesive team.
The authors defined seven keys to leading a team. Here are the topics that I believe are relevant for the small/micro business that make up 99% of businesses in Gillespie County.
“Show Appreciation for Unsung Colleagues.” Leading and being part of a small team suggests it would be easy to show appreciation and yet, the pace of business added to responsibilities away from work steal many opportunities to show appreciation. Thinking about my own responsibilities at the Chamber, our community and at home, I need to make a stronger effort to show appreciation to my colleagues and members.
“Set the standard and create a culture of 100” effort.” It is easy to understand this concept from a sports team perspective. For all sports, the players spend hours practicing for every minute of competition. This provides the opportunity for coaches and players to push each other to reach 100% effort. In business, we are “in the game” all the time with little space for practice. This begs the question: how can we create practice space to improve our businesses and provide the opportunity for our colleagues to make 100% effort?
“Recognize teammates’ individual psychology and best ways to motivate them.” We all know this—what motivates one person might not motivate another. Brady shared that Julian Edelman was angered and highly motivated to improve his play when he was criticized. Conversely, Randy Moss improved with positive recognition. These are almost polar opposites and a striking example of the differences in the ways that each of us, as individuals, are motivated.
“Create opportunities to connect as people outside the office.” One of most enjoyable times in my career was working for a General Manager who would take his leadership team out for a quick beer, or a dinner, or a Sunday afternoon with family members for a picnic at least once each quarter. We were a tight team, and we certainly gave 100% effort all the time. Doing this is challenging for many of our businesses as some of our colleagues live away from Fredericksburg. Yet, the benefits do warrant finding a creative solution—closing shop one morning for a hike up Enchanted Rock or one afternoon to visit a winery. One local businessman used to hold his staff meeting over a taco breakfast every week. Once a month, he picked up the tab, but the rest of the time, they all went “Dutch.”
Well, I better practice what I have written in this week’s column! Who is with me? Creating and maintaining a great team is one of the most rewarding experiences for a leader. Please share your ideas with us at the Chamber via email, and we will recap them in a future column.
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