April, 2007
Has your company or organization completed spring training?
By Coach Trotter

It’s that time of year when professional baseball teams emerge from spring training and begin their long season schedule.  I don’t care what team manager you hear, they all are optimistic and excited about their team’s chances.

When you step back and really look at what their objectives are, you can see the logic behind their efforts.  Coaches condition their teams, physically and mentally.  The management team assesses current status, deciding where they will position their players, how they will utilize their strengths and develop strategies to win games.  In many cases, new faces bring new opportunities, but also competition.  Everyone must prove their ability and passion for excellence.  

Perhaps the greatest element in building a winning team is the approach to foster an attitude of success – the understanding of how each player will contribute to a victorious year – individually and as a member of the team.

I am amazed at how this strategy is accepted and used in professional sports, but not recognized by the majority of businesses and organizations today.  Most leaders have no formal strategy to provide them with the readiness to succeed. They leave success totally up to chance!  

It’s easy to point out the problem, right?  I’m going to give you some thoughts to move closer to a professional approach for your organization:

Hold your winter meeting – Develop annual strategies with your core leadership team.  Begin with the end in mind!  What do you want to achieve in the new season/year?  Assess your prior year’s performance/ranking (SWAT Analysis) and your competitor’s (TOWS Analysis).  Take four to six sessions to accomplish this task, and do your homework.  An outside facilitator may provide the best results.  End with a listing of the strategies that will accomplish your overall goal(s), and a score card to measure your success.

Start spring training – Develop working groups with your overall team to develop the “how to” (tactical part) of the strategies – your every day game play.  Your team needs to be part of this effort to build their individual buy-in, help everyone understand their individual roles within the plan and build a team atmosphere.  Spring training should result in a complete listing of tactics to accomplish your strategies, including timelines, measurements and assigned responsibilities…and may take the same amount of time as your winter meeting.

Have an opening day event – Coordinate a whole team rally.  The final plan is unveiled and everyone’s contributions are acknowledged.  You may also want your leaders to announce a plan incentive program, such as a monthly MVP player, posting of team score leaders or other ideas.  Have some fun with it!

Play the game – Daily, weekly and monthly oversight and leadership are keys to deployment of your strategies and tactics, and also where most leaders and teams fail.  You will be defined as a winner or a loser.  Lead and play like a team and look at your overall score card of performance.  Hold bi-monthly meetings with your leadership team to review your performance and make the appropriate changes if needed.  Don’t forget the team in your communication.

End of season – Assess, understand and recognize your accomplishments and failures.  Look at your efforts as a team to provide the best analysis of the results. Reward the team for their success and gather their input on how to build on the team’s shortcomings.  Your end-of-season meeting is a great way to reflect on the year and provide valuable information prior to the next winter meeting.