Teamwork: Lessons from Super Bowl Champions

Football season is just around the corner and many of us are thinking about another Super Bowl championship. You don’t have to be very old to remember when the Super Bowl and the New England Patriots were names that were not said in the same sentence. The Packers, Cowboys, Steelers, 49ers were champions, but New England? However, after three titles, we expect a championship every year.

How did we get this way? Scott Pioli, who is the Patriots’ vice president of player personnel, revealed the team’s secret in a recent interview. He and coach Bill Belichick have a philosophy that they will always build a team that will contend for a championship. This is not a short-term philosophy of winning this year and worrying about next year, but a philosophy of winning now while always looking to the future. A big part of this philosophy is talent acquisition. Pioli’s job is to get the talent for the coach.

The talent they pursue is special. It’s talent that fits with the Patriot belief system. Once assembled, the coach must build a culture in the locker room that is in line with the philosophy of the organization. The locker room culture is key and everyone must accept its overriding philosophy.

Belichick believes that the best players are going to play now, but that the team is always developing its players so they are ready to play when they are needed. In a sport as physical as soccer, players must always be ready to play.

Each player understands his job and his role. The team is looking for competitive players who are mentally strong and who adopt the team’s philosophy. Players who do not share this philosophy leave. The goal of the Patriot is simple: build a cohesive team because teams win championships.

So what can we learn from the Patriots? Four key points:

1. Organizations must have an overriding philosophy that guides them in the way they operate their business.

2. All employees must accept this philosophy and hiring decisions must be based in part on whether the candidate can adhere to this philosophy. Any employee, new or current, who does not embrace the philosophy should go.

3. All employees know their work and the functions they perform in the organization.

4. The manager’s job is to put together the best team available for today, while simultaneously preparing for the future.

While the Patriots may seemingly have an endless supply of talent who want to play professional football, most employers don’t. We are all facing a labor shortage and the problem is only going to get worse. Baby boomers, who make up a significant percentage of our workforce, are beginning to prepare for retirement, and few workers are ready to step in. One of my clients commented on some of his recent retirements saying it’s like seeing history walk out the door. Her employees are getting older and she asks who will be there in 5 years.

Faced with a critical labor shortage, many employers are hoping that raising wages will fix the problem in the short term. However, getting into a bidding war is a fight that most cannot win. There will always be someone bigger, with deeper pockets who will win this game. And frankly, hope is not a good business strategy. The only way to avoid a crisis is to start doing things differently. Recruiting the same way, hoping to find candidates in the same job pool that everyone else is fishing for, will not result in more candidates. Your recruitment must be strategic. The types of candidates you’re looking for and the places you’ll find them will require non-traditional approaches. Working with fewer and more skilled workers is part of the answer. Efficiency and technology are also key.

Focus your efforts on developing your talent. Organizations need to realize that developing their talent through work experiences and development programs is more likely to keep their people, and that is a better alternative than becoming the farm club for other organizations.

Employers face a critical challenge. At a time when fewer people are entering the workforce, organizations have more people preparing to retire. Now is the time to take proactive steps to address this crisis.

Start the process by identifying the key positions in your organization and then assessing whether you currently have the talent in-house. Implement initiatives for the development of its people. Create a bank. If you don’t have the talent, start plans to find the talent abroad. And lastly, take care of your high-potential employees to make sure they stay with you.

Remember, the Patriot philosophy of building a team that can win today while always preparing for the future has proven quite successful. Works.