Teamwork

My son's football team is undefeated. Tonight, they came back from a two touchdown defecit to win 26-20.

Sitting here now with everyone asleep, the win is just one of several lessons to be taken from the trip to Hollywood, SC.

First, the boys did not quit. They stuck together as a team and did not fold under the pressure and heat. Sure the boys differ in personality but when on the field, the player to player variation is minimal. They don't see someone as a jerk or strange kid. They see a teammate and a partner. They encourage one another. They pick each other off the ground.

I have often thought a great business book would be corporate teams based on a football model.

Think about it. Within most companies, there are different functional groups: Quality Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Purchasing, Desing or Development Engineering, etc. Often, members of each group assemble to form a cross functional team for project management.

If the functional group to functional group variation is small, then cross functional teams will have fairly homogeneous membership. Meaning, the members will "be on the same page". If the variation between groups is excessive, then the cross functional team may struggle.