I always find myself asking, "what makes a good team?" Looking at the public sector in comparison to my second passion in life football, I always find so many great things. First, you need eleven guys putting their entire effort into the game on either offense, defense, or special teams. Sometimes when the pressure is on you will get someone who comes up in the clutch pushing the team to the top and to victory. In this case you have organizations living up to their projected potential or becoming a great jewel in the community or governmental entity.
You have the general manager who finds the talent and personnel to get the job done. They are sort of like the hr department in the public sector, attempting to find the right fit. Then you have the coach, and their staff who develops plays, and encourages players to get your maximum effort through training. The executive director or chief of staff could play this role. Next, you have execution of plays by the leader on the field, the QB, or manager, with each player on offense assigned to a specialized duty, staff.
I find myself comparing events that happen in these professional settings similar to those on the field of play. For instance, when your boss gives you a deadline of 5 o'clock at noon of a report, it can sort of be like starting your own 10-yard line within the 2 minute warning. That sense of urgency and ability to move the sticks to score, is just like getting a couple pages done each hour. For those of you that have play team sports, or have been apart of a research team, or maybe even played in a band, I think you understand my comparisons. The team has to be in sync, unified, and have great communication and chemistry. From what I have witnessed at MAG, at least from my perspective in the Human Services Dept, has this good chemistry and has great cohesion. I even sort of view myself as a free agent in my internship, who they brought in to help get the job done. lol
Ultimately, I think what makes a great team become a great organization or dynasty in terms of sports, is constant sacrifice, communication, teamwork, a strong work ethic, and the ability to get better each and every day.
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You cleverly expanded on the work-football analogy. I particularly enjoyed your comparison of when your boss tells you at noon that you have a report due at 5:00 p.m. to starting at the 10-yard line within the 2 minute warning. However, I would add that your team is 6 points behind your opponents and, therefore, making the touchdown and goal within those two minutes is imperative for your team to win. Yet, for some reason, I have always found sports much less nerve-racking than a work deadline. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from this analogy in bringing calm, confident, strategic thought and action into play during times that are clutch to success.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed my truthful, yet overly explanatory comparison. lol. Even though I have never received such a five hour notice prior to something due, thank God, it was something that came to me. I think you have a natural athlete feel, which makes competitive much easier for you, wouldn't you say?
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right on the last point, I call that "the Joe Cool" as in Joe Montana. His clutch performances in crucial situations, being calm, cool, and collected could be translated to the public sector.
Your analogy is an interesting one. I find that some of the nuance in forms of organizational establishment pose interesting problems for "the team". What you were describing is impart a well defined organization with well understood roles, for which people cognitively train.
ReplyDeleteHow we treat roles when this type of organization is in decline is an adjacent issue I find just as interesting. Often, we are told today that the small, flexible organization is the way to go. This is one however, where we find the Jack of many trades and master of none. Forcing people to step into positions where they have not become experts encouraging people to "play jazz".
It could be that this is a phenomenon not experienced for the most part in the public sector, but then again I have never actually worked for a government (and definitely not for a whole association of them). I believe this issue of wearing many hats is something that we all have to come to grips with to some extent. The football analogy is an interesting one, none-the-less, because it seems more of us are being asked to be Jim Brown.