Teamwork in Sports and Business

Hockey Begins

Just before Christmas (2009), I was talked into buying equipment to play hockey for the first time in my life. If I were a teenager, this would not be a big deal. However, taking on a sport like hockey for the first time above the age of 40 was and is a big deal.

Skating in Circles

I worked in an ice rink in college so I knew how to skate in a one direction circle. Let me tell you that my one direction skating experience did little to prepare me for playing hockey. Not to mention that I hadn’t been on skates with any consistency for many years.

Diving In

When I decide to do something new, I rarely dip a toe in the water. After buying all that equipment it seemed to me that in order to get return on my investment, I would need to play hockey more than one time per week.

The Journey Begins

Playing three times per week on three different teams was my answer. In the very first game of my new hockey career, I stepped onto the ice with a group of highly skilled intermediate players. The results were not pretty but I made it through the entire season with this team and very likely progressed more quickly than I would have if I hadn’t played with the highly skilled guys. In order to not have circles skated around me every time I stepped on the ice with this team, I had no choice but to be inquisitive and to learn the game quickly.

Simultaneously, I joined a novice hockey team. Though I had no idea what I was getting into and breaking into an established team from the outside is never fun, I just knew the novice experience would be easier on my body and my ego than the intermediate experience was. I was right.

Two teams weren’t enough. I found another novice league and ended up playing on Sunday nights, Tuesday nights and Thursday nights. The physical demands of such a schedule for a guy who has a daytime job were intense. Today, three months later, I’m so glad I went through the early pain because I’m really enjoying this game and the fitness benefits it is providing.

Sorry for the long story about how I got started but you needed to know that I’ve been the new guy in more ways than one on each of my teams.

The Intermediate Team

The intermediate team was a brand new team. While there were many talented players, this team failed to win a game. There was no coach and nobody to pull the weaker players aside (I was one) to give them pointers to shorten their learning curves. It was assumed that everybody knew how to play hockey and that teamwork would automatically occur. In many ways it did not.

The White Jersey Novice Team

My white jersey novice team was also brand new team. There is no coach. There is no team direction. Players frequently play out of position. Mostly because I don’t think they’ve ever been told how to play in position. Our lines don’t go onto the ice and come off the ice as a group. Individuals go in for individuals. As a center on a forward line, I constantly have different wings on my right and my left. There is no continuity. Some players on this team pass the puck, most however do not. There are several lone ranger players on this team who want to skate the puck from one net to the other to attempt to score. I say attempt because they rarely make it all the way to the opponent’s net and they very seldom score.

We’ve won one game but we’ve lost the other three very decisively. There isn’t a coach guiding the group as a team or working with players one-on-one to sharpen their individual skills or knowledge of the game. This team is frustrating to play on.

The Read Jersey Novice Team

My red jersey novice team has a coach. The coach determines who will play on each line we’ll put on the ice in any given game throughout the game. As players, we play with the same line all night long. The coach determines when a line needs to come off the ice and when a fresh line needs to go on the ice. The coach makes strategy adjustments throughout the game.

The coach gives pointers to the guys on the bench once he has seen what they do and don’t know while they’re on the ice. The coach objectively watches the action on the ice and the individual players who make up the team. The coach sizes up the other team and makes adjustments to our play based on what he sees that we can’t see when we’re on the ice and in the heat of competition.

This team wins with an average margin of 6-2 on any given Thursday night. This team has been my favorite team from the beginning. It really is a team.

My Hockey Experience Applies to Business

What does my hockey journey have to do with business you ask? Not much to the average person who has never played hockey but to me, my hockey journey has everything to do with business.

This current experience has taught and is continually teaching me how important it is to get the right players positioned to play the right positions and how important it is to have the right leader in place to lead the team.

The wrong players playing together on a team will not consistently produce positive accomplishments. A team that lacks a highly skilled leader will not consistently produce positive accomplishments. However, a team that is thoughtfully built and led by the right leader will produce positive outcomes far more frequently than it comes up short.

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