This phrase captures the philosophy of Washington Capitals hockey coach Adam Oates. He encourages his players to get the puck by playing good, sound defense. Then, after all of the offensive players skate to the optimum scoring areas, they should continue to advance the puck to a player with the best position to take an aggressive shot at the goal.
Under Oates’ coaching, the Capitals have greatly improved their offensive production. Caps star Alex Ovechkin has been central to this increased production. He has flourished in Oates’ new system.
Oates, a former star offensive player himself, understands the importance of getting the puck to your scorers and letting them take the shots – but he also gets how important it is to ensure that every player knows their role and its importance to the team. The best scorer on the team won’t always be the player with the best position to take a shot, so in those cases he should focus on getting the puck to the player who does have the best position.
The same is true in business. We must understand our roles and the skills that we bring to the company and to our teams within our companies. The goal for most businesses is to win the business, to bring in new clients and then focus our efforts on delivering the best product or service we can. But if everyone tries to rush out and get new business at the same time, there will be no one left to serve the clients’ needs as the new business flows in.
One of the hardest things to learn in business is how to be successful as an individual within in a team setting. I believe to do this, you need to put the team’s goals (usually centered around client satisfaction) ahead of any personal goals you might have for the project. If you start with what’s best for the client and continue focusing all of your efforts on achieving that goal of client satisfaction, you will always be in the right position to “make the play.”
After you identify and start to focus on the team’s goals, you should focus on maximizing your contributions by learning what your best skill set is and continually trying to improve it and use it to accomplish the team’s goals. Not all players are meant to be high-production scorers like Ovie. But it is important to remember that all members of a team play important roles.
This idea of “every role is important” gets used so often that a lot of you might be tempted to brush it off as a consolation prize for the members of a team (business or sports) who aren’t good enough to get the big money and the real glory. But another sport provides a perfect example of the truth behind this idea. Pro football, which has recently been dominated by a focus on high-scoring offenses and the quarterbacks who lead them, had 3 offensive linemen taken in the top 4 picks of the 2013 draft.
Offensive linemen don’t score very often. They don’t usually make the dramatic catches or speedy runs that make it into the highlight reels. But good teams understand that good offensive linemen are key to ensuring that their much-touted quarterback has enough time to make a good throw.
Be confident in yourself and your team – go get the business and make a play!
Have a great weekend,
Ro