The one thing you bring to the (operating) table

Oh the Linsanity...

Over the weekend New York Knicks phenom and new starting point guard Jeremy Lin was diagnosed with a more serious knee injury than was originally thought, and with the necessary surgery and rehab it seems likely that Lin will miss the remainder of the NBA season, and this development may quite possibly derail the team's chances at a playoff run. Bibby - Sans headband

Upon learning the news, I (sort of) joked over an email to the 8 Man Rotation team that perhaps the Knicks should ask for a knee ligament donation for Lin from (backup point guard and veteran player on the last stretch of his useful career), Mike Bibby's cadaver. A bad joke I suppose, and perhaps an unfair cheap shot at Bibby, who even with his best days as an NBA player far behind him, by all accounts has been a good team player and citizen on this current Knicks team.

But the 'cadaver' joke led me to thinking about how at times it can be really easy to see contributors on a team or in an organization for what they can't do or what they can no longer do, instead of seeing (and admittedly looking harder for), what they still can bring to the table, even if it is only that one thing.

In sports it could be the late career veteran or that single-skilled expert that you might only need once in every five games, but when you need that skill, he or she can be counted on to deliver, whether it is a timely three-point shot in hoops, or in soccer to be calm enough to come off the bench and cooly and efficiently take a penalty kick.

At the office it might be that past-his-prime account rep that landed the 'Big Account' fifteen years ago and has not been doing that much since. But every year at contract renewal time the client still wants to have him in the deal and his presence and stability ends up being a big part of getting the deal done, and a nice chunk of revenue locked up.

Or it even could be one of those 'been there forever and is skating the last three years until retirement' guys that has pretty much checked out, but whenever one of the junior staff is in a jam, and wakes him up long enough to ask a question, he always knows what to do, who to talk with, and (maybe more importantly) who not to talk with.

The key that ties these kinds of scenarios together?

That the unique contribution, that 'one thing', that these types of contributors bring to the table - the donated ligament, the long-term customer relationship, or the deep understanding of organizational politics, are all really personal, really hard to replicate, are extremely important, and can't truly be captured in any kind of database or information management system.  They're 'owned' so to speak by the one person alone.

Two things to take away then. One, as a manager or leader that you'd be wise to make sure when you are cutting people loose or shipping out so-called dead weight or low performers, that you are not losing some critical 'one thing' that no one else can bring to the table. And two, if you are one of those 'one thing' kinds of contributors yourself, well you better make sure you are ready and willing to step up on those rare occasions when your number is called, and that you are still willing to do what it takes, even if it might not be easy.

Even if, possibly, it involves donating a ligament to the new hotshot on the team.

Note: Hat tip to Kris Dunn at the HR Capitalist for his help shaping up this post as he is very concerned about the playoff prospects for the Knicks.